The wrap-up
Last day in India was great. We got up at 5:30 to go see the Taj Mahal. We'd hoped to see it at sunrise, but were somewhat mislead as to when that would be; nonetheless, we did get there by 7:00, well before it got too hot. The Taj really is lovely. Something you might not be able to tell from standard pictures is that the marble surface in the alcoves is purposely uneven in order to catch the light at different angles, and the areas above the archways are inlaid with floral patterns of semi-precious stone.
Cars are not allowed near the Taj so to get to the parking lot about 1 km away (where we'd left our hired driver), we hired a bicycle rick-shaw. Beth made an off-hand remark about bicycling, and the rickshaw wallah jokingly asked if she would like to drive the thing. Beth surprised us by taking him up on it, hauling me along while the real driver trotted along side, helping her to steer the somewhat unwieldy contraption.
Next we chilled at our fancy hotel for a bit, and I got the longest, most mediocre mani-pedi of my life at the hotel beauty salon. That set us behind schedule a bit, so instead of going to see the old capital of Fatehpur Sikri (about 1-1/2 hrs away) we visited the nearby Agra Fort, begun by Akbar the Great in the 16th century and added to by successive generations of Mughal emperors, including Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan (same guy who built the Taj as a tomb for his favorite wife). We hired an official guide for the fort for the equivalent of $4 and were glad we did as he shared all sorts of tidbits -- for instance, a pit in the center of one courtyard was a fountain that once spouted water collected in cisterns on the roof of the fort mixed with perfume.
It took me about 24 hours to get back to the states, and I haven't had much sleep. Trying to keep myself a while longer to get myself back on Pacific time. I will post photos to flickr soon (from week 2, of course) and may even blog a little more over the next couple of days on my more vivid memories.
Cars are not allowed near the Taj so to get to the parking lot about 1 km away (where we'd left our hired driver), we hired a bicycle rick-shaw. Beth made an off-hand remark about bicycling, and the rickshaw wallah jokingly asked if she would like to drive the thing. Beth surprised us by taking him up on it, hauling me along while the real driver trotted along side, helping her to steer the somewhat unwieldy contraption.
Next we chilled at our fancy hotel for a bit, and I got the longest, most mediocre mani-pedi of my life at the hotel beauty salon. That set us behind schedule a bit, so instead of going to see the old capital of Fatehpur Sikri (about 1-1/2 hrs away) we visited the nearby Agra Fort, begun by Akbar the Great in the 16th century and added to by successive generations of Mughal emperors, including Akbar's grandson Shah Jahan (same guy who built the Taj as a tomb for his favorite wife). We hired an official guide for the fort for the equivalent of $4 and were glad we did as he shared all sorts of tidbits -- for instance, a pit in the center of one courtyard was a fountain that once spouted water collected in cisterns on the roof of the fort mixed with perfume.
It took me about 24 hours to get back to the states, and I haven't had much sleep. Trying to keep myself a while longer to get myself back on Pacific time. I will post photos to flickr soon (from week 2, of course) and may even blog a little more over the next couple of days on my more vivid memories.