There are some places in the world where a picture just doesn't do it justice. The Taj Mahal is one of those places.
You can read the full story behind the Taj Mahal on the Wikipedia link below or if you want the summary here it is in a few sentences:
The Taj Mahal was built by the 5th Mongrel King of India who was in power in the early/middle 1600's. He fell in love when he was 21 with a young lady who was 18. They married and had fourteen children. She died while giving birth to their 14th child. He ordered the building of the Taj Mahal mausoleum to show his love for her for future generations to see. It was built over a period of 22 years and now they are both buried within. It is constructed totally from marble, and jewels that are inlaid in the marble. Simply put it is truly a site that has to be seen to be fully appreciated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal
It opens at sunrise every morning of the week except Friday. On Friday's it's closed for cleaning and then prayers (can you imagine the poor folks who show up on Friday and don't know this). Many people go at sunrise because in the past that was the best time to view the white marble and jewels. Our guide shared with us that due to increased levels of air pollution it is actually better to wait a few hours. The sun burns off some of the morning haze before the temperature starts to climb. We arrived shortly after 8:00 AM, the air was clearing and the crowds were just starting to grow.
You can go inside which is very interesting because you can see the detail of the inlaid marble, however the best views are from the far end of the reflection pool. From this distance you can see the full size as well as the mosque on the west side (there is a "fake mosque" on the east side to maintain symmetry) and the south, east and west gates.
One of the really fun things about the morning was that we were in the minority. For every "white skinned" person walking around there were probably around 500 or more Indians. Many of them were huge families with multiple generations represented. It was great seeing all the females from the very, very old to the very, very young dressed in their traditional sari's. India is known for it's color and nowhere is that more evident than at the Taj Mahal.
Crossing over today was a blast! If you're wondering what I'm talking about read the previous blog.
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| Us and the Taj! |
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| From the South Gate. It is built in complete symmetry. The four large towers are actually built 4 degrees outward in case there is ever an earthquake they would fall outward. Also the slight angle outward makes them appear straight from a distance. |
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| An example of the inlaid marble on the outside. |
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| Excited about their visit! |
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| The mosque on the west side. It's a real mosque. There is a similar one on the east side, however it's only purpose is to maintain symmetry. |
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| Their mom and dad put them in front of us because they wanted a picture of their kids with "white folks". They happily took a picture for us to have as well. |
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| Colorful! |
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| I saw this young girl and thought she was beautiful. I was kind of stalking her for a while to try to get a nice picture. Beth told me I was getting "creepy" but I finally got a nice picture. |
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| School kids on a field trip to the Taj. Boys in one line, girls in the other. |
