Day 2: Agra
Early the next morning we made our way to the Taj Mahal, a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal built by her husband Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan from 1632-1653. There is some evidence Shah Jahan had intended to build a black marble Taj for himself and then connect the two with a silver bridge. This never occurred as his son Aurangzeb took over and imprisoned Shah Jahan. It would have been quite a sight if that had happened. Gowri had never been here and every time I had visited there was no water in the pool in front of the Taj. Many often leave disappointed since the water definitely adds to the beauty. We managed to get a great look at the reflection on a clear day. We're not sure how we lucked out and visited on a day where the pool was filled. Despite seeing so many pictures and having visited before, the Taj always amazes me.
Here we are at the place where everyone gets their picture taken.
Not only is the entire structure beautiful, the intricate stone work and semi-precious gems imbedded throughout the building shows that Taj Mahal is impressive over the full range of scales. It is considered the best stone work from the Mughal times.
Up close you can see the detailed inlay work.
The other buildings at the Taj complex are also intricately decorated and most of those are built with red sandstone rather than the white marble.
After a very successful visit to the Taj, we made our way to Agra Fort another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is where Shah Jahan got imprisoned. They actually show you where he stayed. He even had a view of the Taj Mahal from his cell but it was through a tiny mirror which he could use to look at the reflection. Aurangzeb was quite the terrible son!
The fort is enormous and held a small city within its walls. There are many intricate buildings within since kings often resided here. For example, this is Diwani Khas, the hall of public audience. This is where the king would hold court and people could petition him for various things.
Agra was amazing. That night we boarded the sleeper train to Umaria for the next part of our trip. We were heading to Bandhavgarh National Park. This park boasts the highest concentration of the wild tigers any where in the world although there is certainly no guarantee one will see one. Nevertheless we were very excited. Here is Gowri in the sleeper car on the train. It was quite comfortable and got us to Umaria on time.
