Taj Mahal

After more than a year in India, I finally visited the Taj Mahal!  I'd been hearing for months from Indians, "You must have been to the Taj Mahal by now."  And they were completely baffled when I replied, "Not yet."  I knew a friend would eventually visit and give me the opportunity to tour the Taj with them.  And it finally happened when my friends from Baku, Jodi and April, visited in March.

First glimpse of the Taj Mahal through the Main Gate entrance

We drove to Agra the night before and then gathered in the hotel lobby at 6:00 am to catch the Taj at sunrise.  (The sun was already up, but hey, close enough!)  Unfortunately, one member of our group did not appear in the lobby.  We called his mobile, texted, called his room from the reception desk, and finally went to bang on his door.  No response.  We shrugged and proceeded to one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World without him.

Tariq, Erica, Jodi, and April

We had a great guide named Shariq who offered us many interesting facts about the Taj, none of which I checked for veracity!  He stated that the Taj is the only great monument of the world built for love.  Even if it's not true, it's romantic, so I won't question it.  (For those shaky on their Indian history, Emperor Shah Jahan began building the Taj in 1631 as a mausoleum for his favorite and beloved wife Mumtaz after she died giving birth to her umpteenth child.  I found references to it being her 13th, 14th, or 15th child, so I won't lead you astray by picking a wrong number.)

Taj Mahal from a different perspective

Shariq also mentioned that the Taj is 100 percent symmetric EXCEPT for one feature.  He gave us most of the visit to guess it, then finally pointed out that Mumtaz's tomb is in the center of the mausoleum, with Shah Jahan's tomb to her right, but no corresponding tomb to her left.  He also pointed to the crowd gathered around a particular bench waiting to take photos.  He said that was the "Diana Bench" and tourists always clamored to take photos while sitting on it.  But, when Princess Diana visited the Taj in 1992, it was actually a different bench she sat on for her photo shoot!

Erica holding the Taj?

Speaking of photos, Shariq loved posing us for various photos:  with the Taj reflected in our sunglasses; with us reflected in the pools; individual shots; group shots; holding the camera down low; going in for close-ups, etc.  As you can see above, I was not fully on board with all these shenanigans of getting the cheesy "must-have" tourist pic of the Taj.  But we did get a lot of wonderful pics and create wonderful memories of our trip to this architectural wonder.

Final shot of the Taj Mahal