Taj Mahal
Today we visited one of the most incredible manmade structures. The Taj was built by a king for the tomb of his favorite wife and started in 1632. The complex took 20 years with the hands of 20,000 craftsman and about $850USD million in todays currency. I have seen the great churches in Europe, the pyramids in Cairo, the Forbidden City in Beijing, but I think the Taj takes the cake. It is visually stunning in a way that pictures cannot do justice, though you need to check out Tara's images. She brought her really nice camera and her eye for the shot along.
Patti had originally scheduled us to get up at 0-dark-hundred, Patti getting up early, who would have imagined ;-). But as God would have it we were given a complimentary guide to Agra during our stay who changed our minds. He was wondering what we planned to see in the morning fog :-). Paying for our admission helped fund the making of the next Taj as the price for an Indian was about 70 cents and the price for a foreigner was about $15.
Upon entering a professional photographer tried to seal the deal to follow us around and get that magic shot, we decided to just let our guide take some images and he really got into it. He had Patti posing and the whole bit, much to the disgust of Tara. "Mom, you are acting like 30 going on 13, but you are 50 going on 15." That little bit of international embarassment has just paid for this trip.
Before entering the tomb area we had to put on some booties or remove our shoes. We went with the booties which Tara took to immediately.
In the tomb are they demonstrated how light was diffused in flower motifs which were made of semi-precious stones inlaid in marble. This is a design technique still practiced today by the decendents of the artisans who built the Taj. Here is an image of the inlay - no shots allowed in the mausoleum. I got a kick out of one of the guards as we were exiting the mausoleum who was really encouraging me to throw some cash down before the tomb, he was saying that the dead king would bring me good luck. I was thinking, no, it will be bringing you a good dinner ;-)
Tara has been collecting a fan base here in India. Tall and blond is something that seems to get some picture requests. Riley is getting her requests too, but not quite like China, though she vows to make a come back saying the her people are out there.
Our Taj touring day ended with the obligatory stop to the shop where they make the marble inlay. With a brief demonstration and an offer for refreshments, which we politely declined, we were ushered into a big room with inlaid art as large as a dining room table and as small as a cutting board. We always have to play these things like good cop, bad cop. I am the good one of course. So I begin looking at the only likely in our price range, the smallest cutting block and immediately find that we are not even close. Patti throws down her time honored non-chalance and the bargaining begins. It was not so entertaining this time as Patti really did not any of it. Only after they determined that we were small spenders did they reveal a second room with cheaper stuff. Still nothing for Patti. Since I had initiated the 'how much is this?' one of the guys was insisting that I could buy whatever I want and it does not matter what the wife thinks. I need to bring him along for the next mountain bike purchase.
Images in: 2018 Agra / Taj Mahal
Images: You might have to access the images in a different way depending on the size of your screen. For full size monitors the links should appear on the left, for phones and tablets you will need to select the menu drop-down icon on the upper left corner.
Patti had originally scheduled us to get up at 0-dark-hundred, Patti getting up early, who would have imagined ;-). But as God would have it we were given a complimentary guide to Agra during our stay who changed our minds. He was wondering what we planned to see in the morning fog :-). Paying for our admission helped fund the making of the next Taj as the price for an Indian was about 70 cents and the price for a foreigner was about $15.
Upon entering a professional photographer tried to seal the deal to follow us around and get that magic shot, we decided to just let our guide take some images and he really got into it. He had Patti posing and the whole bit, much to the disgust of Tara. "Mom, you are acting like 30 going on 13, but you are 50 going on 15." That little bit of international embarassment has just paid for this trip.
Before entering the tomb area we had to put on some booties or remove our shoes. We went with the booties which Tara took to immediately.
In the tomb are they demonstrated how light was diffused in flower motifs which were made of semi-precious stones inlaid in marble. This is a design technique still practiced today by the decendents of the artisans who built the Taj. Here is an image of the inlay - no shots allowed in the mausoleum. I got a kick out of one of the guards as we were exiting the mausoleum who was really encouraging me to throw some cash down before the tomb, he was saying that the dead king would bring me good luck. I was thinking, no, it will be bringing you a good dinner ;-)
Tara has been collecting a fan base here in India. Tall and blond is something that seems to get some picture requests. Riley is getting her requests too, but not quite like China, though she vows to make a come back saying the her people are out there.
Our Taj touring day ended with the obligatory stop to the shop where they make the marble inlay. With a brief demonstration and an offer for refreshments, which we politely declined, we were ushered into a big room with inlaid art as large as a dining room table and as small as a cutting board. We always have to play these things like good cop, bad cop. I am the good one of course. So I begin looking at the only likely in our price range, the smallest cutting block and immediately find that we are not even close. Patti throws down her time honored non-chalance and the bargaining begins. It was not so entertaining this time as Patti really did not any of it. Only after they determined that we were small spenders did they reveal a second room with cheaper stuff. Still nothing for Patti. Since I had initiated the 'how much is this?' one of the guys was insisting that I could buy whatever I want and it does not matter what the wife thinks. I need to bring him along for the next mountain bike purchase.
Images in: 2018 Agra / Taj Mahal
Images: You might have to access the images in a different way depending on the size of your screen. For full size monitors the links should appear on the left, for phones and tablets you will need to select the menu drop-down icon on the upper left corner.
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