Day 7 - Agra, India & Travel Day/Delhi, India

Day 7 - Tuesday, January 23rd - Agra, India & Travel Day/Delhi, India

TODAY IS THE TAJ MAHAL!!!!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

So we started off the morning with SHEER EXCITEMENT!!! We were up BEFORE SUNRISE!!! We set the alarm for 5AM!!!!!! Can you belive I got up that early?? All we had been talking about up until now was the TAJ!!!!! BUT, before leaving, we had to get a picture of...

The SCARIEST HOTEL EVER!!!!! (cue REALLY SCARY MUSIC!!!!)

Before leaving the hotel, I made sure to get a picture with Ram. He was our tour guide for all of India, with the excption of Delhi where Denish took us around.

And we are off to the TAJ!!!!!

Here is a pic of TashM and I around 6:30am infront of the Taj. It is still misty and foggy around the Taj, but all the same INCREDIBLE!!!! It almost looks like we are standing infront of a blue screen doesn't it?!?!?!? I PROMISE we were there!!!!

Here is a pic of the Taj around 6:45AM. Notice the reflection of it in the water throughout these pictures too!!! AMAZING!!!!

Cool picture that is WAY too posed. I would like to say in my defense, there were these "professional" photographers that took our pictures and posed us. And when I say posed, I mean POSED!!!! They moved our legs, arms, bodies, fingers... it was HYSTERICAL. Especially when they would do it to the older men. SO FUNNY!!!! We decided to just use our camera's and take the same picture for free. We actually wanted to buy one of the two of us together infront of the Taj, but we couldn't find the guy at the end. Ah well, we still got PLENTY of pictures!!!

"It's pretty cool, isn't it!?!?!?!"

The Taj looked a little crooked, so I decided I would be nice and straighten it... hehehehe

The fog made it so mysterious...

See the "X" in the bottom center of the picture... THAT'S ME!!!!!!

Our morning at the Taj was quickly ending, and before we knew it, it was time to head to our next place to visit.

TAJ YOU WERE EVERYTHING YOU MADE YOURSELF OUT TO BE!!!

On our way out of the Taj, we decided to catch a "Rickshaw" back to Ram. So this is a picture of our "Rick-a-shaw" driver... trying to pull us up the hill...

This was our reaction to it...

Next we stopped at "Sikandra"...

Here is a picture of me taking a picture of TashM, and a really cool building behind me... hehehe

This was a tree in the palace that had to be HUNDREDS of years old!!! It was SO AMAZING!!!

Here is a picture from another angle of the palace that I was standing infront of... Can you see the antelope???...

Here is the other side, NOW you can see the antelope. hehehehe

Next we were off to "Agra Fort"...

Here is a cool shot of it from the inside... The pillars were EMENSE!!!!! Taller than me, and that is pretty darn tall if you ask me!!!! HA!!!!

Here I am "trying" to be cute and sneaky... TOTALLY posed!!!!!

This was inside one of the temples inside the Agra Fort. The was was SO beautiful!!!!! It was just so detail oriented and intricate!!!!

This is one of the area's that royalty would rest on, thus why I am resting on it.... ;)

If you look REALLY far in the distance, beyond the fog/pollution, you can see the Taj... Can you see it???

Here is a cool shot TashM got of me and the view. Sometimes it is nice to enjoy simplicity...

"I LOVE INDIA!!!!!"

How cool is it the light in this picture!!! Nothing was done, it is just how it was!!!!

This is just to show the massive size of ONE of the SMALLER buildings!!!!

Now being tourists, we have come to expect people wanting to take our pictures. Not because of our incredible beauty, but because we look like MONSTERS to them. It is usually parents wanting us to take pictures with their kids. Which usually, the kids start crying because they don't want to be with the "wierd scary monster" by themselves. However, today was a new experience...

We were literally FLOCKED by about 20 'new friends' here. They just kept coming and saying "Can I?"... "Can I?". This was how the group started, and more just kept coming and coming and COMING!!!! It was HYSTERICAL. We had to at one point say, "Sorry, we have to move on." hehehehe No fear, we weren't rude at all. Actually, they followed us the rest of the way through the fort!!!! HA!!!!

Here is a picture of a lovely Indian woman puting her heart and soul into her work.

This is a breathtaking picture of the fort from a distance through the pillars.

Next we were on our way to a "required stop", little did I know what was in store... We walked into this beautiful and RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE store.

Here are some of the Sari's that were on display. They ran somewhere around $1500 USD. I wish that I had gotten a picture up close of the intricate beading... it was INCREDIBLE!!!!

Cue Effy... Now Effy is one of the sales guys there. He KNEW that I wasn't going to buy anything as I said "I won't be buying anything." He still INSISTED on me trying on a Sari. I said sure as long as he understood I was NOT buying...

Here is Effy thinking that he was going to put the Sari on me... NOPE! hehehehe

I prefer a professional to do it... cue the women. If you look at the picture, he had no problem watching...

Here I am, all wrapped up in a traditional Sari. As I said, I did not buy it. However, just for your information, that piece of material on me went for around $900 USD!!!! WHAT?!?!? On to the next.

Our last visit for the day, we visited "Itimadud-Daula". This was a beautiful place...

The temple itself was SO WHITE that the sun blazing off of it made it blinding! After about 15 minutes of my eyes getting used to it, the beauty took me over.

Here is a picture TashM took of me in front of a part of it... LOVE THE STAIRCASE!!!!!

Here is TashM and me trying to be creative with our picture taking... Can you tell which one is me??? I will give you a clue... Look for the shadow of the black bag I wore throughout the trip. Got me?... I am on the right. hehehehe

I had to post this picture as it has a ironic story to it in my opinion... We were walking outside of this BEAUTIFUL temple, and we are told that we HAVE to go into this room as it is the most beautiful of all the rooms in the temple. It was the most gaudy and tacky room. (in my opinion, for whatever that is worth) It was a room full of decorative, what I would describe as, Christmas lights. It is so interesting to me the difference in taste. While it was 'nice', it in NO WAY compared to the beauty of the palace outside.

Funny story of the day... We have both realized at this point that people in India want tips for EVERYTHING!!! They think that all foreign people visiting India are rich and we just hand money out for anything and everything. Now we have come to experience this in MANY WERID WAYS!!!! One example is us handing our camera to someone and asking them to take our picture, they ask for money. Another, they just start walking with you, un-invited, and show you nice area's, they want money. The best was at our rest stop today, we went into the bathroom, and on the way out the person showed us the door as we were leaving. They followed us out and asked for money!!!!! For showing us the door!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?! And to top it off, we were in the ladies room and it was a MAN!!!!! AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! NEVER a dull moment!!!! I love life!!!!!!!

We left the palace, and continued on our trip back to Delhi, India. 6 hours of driving!!!!! AAAHHH!!!! We got back to the hotel well after dinner time. When we got to the Hotel Ajanta, we said goodbye to Ram and thanked him, checked in, I checked email that I hadn't done yet, and went to bed. I passed out easily!!!!! And yes, TashM had "Agra Belly".

Tomorrow is our last day in India.... :(