Taj Ball

4:45 came sooner than expected and low and behold I was on my way to Agra. For those of you who know me best (Mommy, Daddy, and Heath Ledger may he rest in peace) know that I had two things I really wanted to see this trip (no G, not those): A Japanese baseball game and the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately the baseball game was impossible because we went in the winter (I got over that pretty quickly), but luckily I got to see the Taj. It was as impressive as I imagined, but I digress.
On the way down we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri. Sikri, as I have decided to nickname it, was built by Akbar, my favorite Mugal leader. He was #3, Grandfather of Shah Jahan, son of Humayun…talk about a strong family. Akbar was not particularly religious man so his decision to have 3 wives from 3 different faiths did not come as surprising. Neither did his decision to move the capitol to Sikri (albeit for 16 years) to make it more central and welcoming. The design of the would be capitol has stayed intact mostly because it is in such an isolated location (about 60 km from the Taj). It has a huge mosque, a small church, and even a small Hindu temple. It is tough to describe exactly why these ruins stand apart from all of the other ones, but I think it was because their simple design made imagining Akbar’s lifestyle very possible. One could easily imagine him sitting on his throne watching the entirety of his city.
From Sikri we went to lunch, a feat I was beginning to dread. Seriously how many combinations  of spicy rice can a kid take. Funny side note, we ran into 4 different groups traveling independently (e.g. not  on an SAS trip) at the same restaurant. Talk about kick back (the tour companies get a percentage of our bill for taking us there).
I don’t want to write anything else about food because we then went to the Taj MaFRIKNhal. Kind of odd how it’s spelt that way, but whatever. It was awesome. Once you make your way past the scores of vendors offering you anything from weed to Ganesh you finally get to wait on the 45 minute line to get in. BUT once you get in you finally get to see some entrance structure that you’ve never seen before. BUT once you walk through that structure you get to see hundreds of people taking tons of pictures, BUT once you make it past them, then you see it. The Taj. Seriously it manages to be even more beautiful in person.
It was the complete turning point of my trip. None of the filth seemed to matter as I stared mesmerizingly at this grand building. WOW. To think that a man built this structure out of love for his wife. He built it in white to symbolize her loves purity, and had planned a symmetrical black dome across the river to symbolize the depression he felt after she died. Such a love was unheard of in those days. Too bad his son didn’t feel that love, and instead imprisoned his dad, stopped the building of the black dome, and claimed that he was the new king. Talk about a rebellious stage. 
This inside of the Taj Mahal was decent, nothing super, but it did have some crazy ceramic work that was translucent and shimmered in the sun. Later on that day we went to a ceramics factory where they, to this day, make comparable art but it was so expensive I felt uncomfortable being there (I may look at something the wrong way and break it). We had to rush at the end of our visit because it was 5:30 and the Agra fort, our last stop, closed at 6. Some people got upset but we had 2 hours at the Taj which is far beyond what you need (some SAS trips went for a half hour).
As we left we again had to walk through the vendors and I saw a gift that I needed, but I had a price in mind and I wasn’t going above it. Finally I got him down to it but we had hoped in our van and the driver wasn’t waiting for me to get the cash out. The man jumped onto the side of the van, held on with one hand tossed me the souvenir with the other then continued to take my cash and jump off the van which, at this point, had already begun to go full speed. Small aside—I accidentally left the gift in the hotel room that night (I bought the same one again because I liked it so much—don’t worry).
So to the fort. The Agra Fort was similar to Fatephur Sikri, and also impressive, but when you come from the Taj you become a little jaded. It pales in comparison. It’s hard to impress when you’ve just seen something amazing. Think about seeing my brothers after you look at me. Sure they are cute, but man o man, I am just impressive. They let us stay there late after closing so we got to watch the sunset, unfortunately our view of the Taj was obscured so we didn’t get to fully see that gorgeous site.
After a brief stop at a shop for my friend Shanon to buy a camera (hers fell and broke at Sikri, we went back to the hotel, had dinner and used the gym. Seriously time flies because by the time all was said and done it was already 12and we had to get up at 4:30 again the next day to head back to Delhi.
Fun fact: I slept more in a sitting position than on a bed throughout this trip…