The Agra Fort

So I know I spent a lot of time gushing forth pictures of the Taj Mahal, and trust me, I was holding back- there are only a few hundred more that I could have made you suffer through, but as it turns out, the Taj is not the only stunning thing to see in Agra. After the photo-taking extravaganza that was the Taj tour, we headed to the Agra Fort to spend our final fleeting hours in Agra doing some more exploring.

The Agra Fort was of course lovely, but we had already had a LONG day and after the excitement of the Taj Mahal visit, we may have been a little over-touristed by the time we got here. 

This picture is dedicated to Dave's Uncle Hal and Aunt Katie, who are bird watchers. We kept seeing these cool green birds ALL over Delhi and Agra, but couldn't manage to get a good picture of one! I loved them- the shocking neon green rocks! We will wait for Hal to let us know what kind of bird it is! 

View of the Taj from the Fort. 

Our tour guide had not lost his enthusiasm for posed pictures, but our attention was waning at this point- we indulged him in one last tourist snap.  

With our friend P. 

After a lovely day we were back to the train station for another adventure in Indian rail travel. This one, despite taking less than 6 hours to get home, went remarkably worse than the first trip and I am not proud to admit, also involved a few tears. But the mean man wouldn't get out of my seat and I was REALLY tired- so the tears were justified. 

And, for good measure, a monkey picture. 

The last ones, I promise

I promise this will be the LAST Taj Mahal post. We just had such a wonderful time there were so many great memories to share! 

Given the choice between going barefoot (you know my feelings there) or donning funny red booties, we opted for the booties. Unfortunately for Dave, they didn't come in large-american-man sized and he had a little difficulty keeping them on. I thought they went nicely with our outfits. 

The inlay on the outside of the tomb. So amazing to think that these stones were laid here so long ago. 

While it looks like I am posing here- I am actually taking the opportunity to press myself against the cool marble for a little respite from the killer heat. Only packing winter clothes + unusually hot weather = two very sweaty hot Americans dying in long sleeves. 

Couldn't resist the opportunity for a yoga pose picture or two. This tells me I need to spend a little more time back in Bikram =) 

The Taj and Me

While our tour guide offered a great historical overview of the Taj, what he was really good at was posing the BEST pictures. He took over the DSLR and managed to get some super fun (and admittedly cheesy) pictures. Here are the highlights:

(I took this one, Yankees pride) 

On the famous Princess Diana bench. 

She looked a lot lovelier, must not have been 1000 degrees outside and packed with tourists the day she got to serenely admire the view from this bench. 

Getting this picture was no easy feat- it took some waiting, some pushing and some very quick picture taking by our guide before we were nudged out by the next eager tourist. 

Taj Touring Part I

We're finally here. The moment I have been looking forward to for a loooong time. No real need for words here, I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

Hello Taj Mahal

After many hours impatiently awaiting our stop in Agra, the train slowed down to a near stop, we hoped off and were finally on our way to the Taj. While the Delhi train station had been a bit of a zoo in the morning, the Agra station was quite nearly an actual zoo. 

Just a little donkey parade. Our guide was exceptionally confused as to why I found this picture worthy, but I thought it was kind of neat, certainly not how they transport rocks in NYC. 

Then we came across a sacred (albeit rather under nourished) cow, hanging out in her trash heap. 

The busy entrance to Agra Caant Train Station. After arranging for a taxi, with our new German travelling friend P., we were making progress. While we were literally dying to get to the Taj, after a looong train ride with no food, we were also literally starving, and had to make a brief detour to find breakfast/lunch before our tour could continue. We trusted Lonely Planet ("Top 10 Delhi" having already proved itself to be unreliable) and found this amazing little roof top cafe with delicious cheap food and an unbeatable view....

I'll take a side of Taj Mahal with my vegetarian byrani lunch, thank you very much. 

Dave promised me it was unnecessary to take too many pictures from the roof, because we were indeed going to get closer to it, but I just couldn't stop- it was SO pretty! 

Dave indulging in some pictures- you can see how far away we were, but it was still an impressive view. 

The first of MANY D&E shots in front of the Taj. 

Also, Yankees pride like woah. 

We settled in to a hearty Indian lunch and many bottles of water, took in the view and got to know our travel companion for the day, P. She was on a massive backpacking trip, solo, which is incredibly impressive. After nearly a year of travelling just the two of us, we were happy to have some company and grateful to finally have someone to take our picture together for once! After lunch, we found our guide- and headed off through the small streets of downtown Delhi to the gates of the Taj. 

P. and our guide. Taj Mahal here we come! 

More fun on Indian Trains

After a rough start, the train turned out to be- dare I say- fun? OK- maybe fun is going a little bit too far, but it was at the least, really entertaining.

Good to know. 

Happy to report that this warning was effective- as I was not harassed in the least. I made quite a few Indian friends, who were more than a little surprised to see a blond-ish American woman sitting with her feet out the train door, but they were all exceptionally polite and many cups of train chai were consumed. 

We finally got settled in to the train life, and since I drew the short straw and got stuck with the very narrow top bunk, I decided to give up hope of sleeping and go exploring on the train and leave Dave sleeping peacefully on the bottom bunk. 

When a fellow passenger saw me trying to take pictures of the passing landscape through the dirty glass window on the door, he kindly pushed me aside and alleviated the problem by swinging the door wide open and suggesting that it was A-OK to just swing myself right outside the train to get a better picture. 

I am not exactly a huge risk taker, and putting limbs outside of a moving train in India is probably not a great idea, but .....it was so fun! And look, as you can see in this picture- I was clearly holding on with a good grip.

Meanwhile back at the bunk, Dave was taking in the scenery in a far safer manner. 

Don't worry, after I informed him of my fun times in death-defying acts, he had to get in on the fun too and did his own exploring and risking of limbs to snap pictures of the random stations we passed in rural India. 

Since we were on the train for 6 hours, we had plenty of time to take pictures of the passing towns. Because we were a local train, and already behind schedule, we would end up sitting at these very small stations for a really long time, waiting for faster and express trains to pass us. This gave people at the platforms plenty of time to walk across the tracks, hop aboard the train and sell snacks. Being as that we did not eat breakfast nor plan to need to eat a meal en route- I was starving- but seeing as how I really wanted to see the Taj- me and my delicate stomach decided to be starving instead of being ill. 

Well, you know how I feel about monkeys. So imagine my delight that during one of our sojourns stopped in the middle of nowhere, we found this happy bunch of primates having a morning banana snack.  

Come on, they are so cute right? 

The Indians on the train found my excitement about the monkeys to be comical. 

OK- to be fair- I think they found my entire existence on the train to be comical, but they were very nice about it. In fact, a lot of them were more than just nice- they were so incredibly warm, open and friendly- it was an incredible experience. By halfway through the trip we had amassed a collection of random friends from the train who had come to sit, have some tea and chat with us. The wonderful family sitting in the beds across from us generously shared their home cooked meal with us- and despite my best judgment- I happily ate it- and it was delicious. The people we met were eager to chat about America and how we liked India- and to figure out why the hell we were on this train in the first place. They told us about their journeys and bought us quite a few dixie cups of chai. 

While I cannot remember the last time I spoke to a stranger in a train or plane at home, there is something about travelling in a foreign country that makes you so much more open to these sorts of things, so I was making friends right and left. For the rest of the neverendingtrainride, I happily alternated between chit-chatting with my new best buddies- and hanging out the side of a sometimes-moving, but mainly stopping- rail car to watch the world chug on by. 

Eventually we bid farewell to our new train friends, and after an eternity in transit, finally made it to Agra. 

Taj Mahal here we come!