So we saw the Taj today!! We took a 4 hour car ride to go the 100 miles from Delhi to Agra which was set up by our hotel travel information desk. It was definitely the easiest and safest way to get there. I have to say as well the driver was very thoughtful and probably the best driver we will ever ride with again. You have to be in Delhi. The 4 hour trip was likely this time-consuming because of the constant lane-switching, stops for tourists (us) to buy little souvenirs, and rests for our driver to eat, cough, and possibly visit some friends. Oh, but there was the stops for picture requests by us as well. We had to take pictures of the elephants, come on!

 As you can see the Taj Mahal was absolutely pristine and exactly as it is always described by people. Simply mind-blowing. We mentioned several times how we were actually surprised how well it lived up to peoples' reports and extreme word descriptors. Inside the center of the Taj is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, the 'favorite' wife of Emperor Shah Jahan. In this area, photographs were not allowed and was heavily guarded by security, some with ammunition. Eek. The inlayed flowers that are included throughout the outside and inside of the building appear painted but are actually pieces of different types of colored stones shaped to fit perfectly in the carved-out matching marble depressions. How was this done so well in the early 17th century?? Come on?? And speaking of HOW; how was the marble lifted to the very top of the Taj, how were the marble pieces curved so well for the archways (picture below), and how are all of the doorways, windows, etc. so perfectly symmetrical? Amazing, again.

The negatives of seeing the Taj as a U.S. tourist however included the incessant picture-taking of us by Indian people. We couldn't even sit and relax to enjoy viewing the Taj without someone (including children, older women, and mostly young men) asking to take pictures of us, with us, or with their children. It was overwhelming but we maintained patience likely in an effort to extinguish the bad reputation Americans before us have established. Hopefully, it worked but on the inside we were all fuming!

Just outside the Taj Mahal complex we saw a multitude of animals some domesticated, some not. These included Camels (domesticated to pull carts of people), monkeys (non-domesticated), and dogs (non-domesticated.) Wild dogs and wild monkeys in the same area? What?

After our jaws were lifted off of the beautiful marble floors of the Taj, we returned to our driver who brought us to a marble carving training facility/store. We were given a brief overview of how: the marble is carved by hand with practically a kitchen knife held by a man in the squatting position (hopefully not all day), and the flower inlets shaped using a hand-run sander. This was quite enlightening but followed by the ever-present push by the store clerks for us wealthy Americans to buy some of their lovely marble arts. Very tempting, yet on only the 2nd day of our trip we were not willing to relinquish the non-existent extra space in our luggage quite yet. Their strategy was very convincing although. First in the store was a room with the large, heavy marble tabletops which the clerk told us was likely too heavy to be bringing/shipping home which he understood. And, was why the next room we were ushered into was filled with very small marble and flowered turtles, frogs, elephants, and boxes of unknown use. We respectfully declined and spoke at dinner (which was so delicious but I will end that story there) about how it would be difficult for the people here to understand that we fourth-year Medical Students are the poorest Americans they may ever see. -200K is hard to beat as debt goes.

After dinner we started the 4 hour, that turned into a 5 hour, trip back to Delhi and our hotel. The driver was superb in the unbeknownst-to-us 8PM rush hour traffic. Whoops. But seeing the Taj is worth a 57 hour drive so we could deal with a 9 hour/day drive easily.

Tomorrow, another adventure this time involving the metro to see the new part of Delhi, hence, New Delhi!! Ha! Bucket list gets a new item crossed off today: 7 Wonders of the World-Taj Mahal!!!

Namaste!! -Abby