Mughal emperors, mosques, and mausoleums

The train station in New Delhi

I am currently sitting in the courtyard at our bed and breakfast in New Delhi. Thursday and Friday were spent in Agra (apart from the 2 hr travel time each way to and from Agra). The New Delhi train station on Thursday morning was quite the adventure. We were dropped off at the station by a taxi, which our b&b arranged for us the night before. Despite the early hour (5:45 am), the station was ridiculously crowded... but that makes sense, since 1.2 million people live in New Delhi. As soon as we got out of the taxi, a "friendly" young man asked us where we were going and offered his assistance. At first, he told us the track number of the train to Agra; then he directed us to a staircase where we could exchange our e-ticket for a "real" ticket. We went up the stairs, at the top of which we found a locked gate and a man. This man told us that our trip was cancelled and that if we followed him to a travel agency, we could purchase tickets for the next trip, which left 55 minutes later. Fortunately, I had heard about this exact scam the day before I left from a friend who had been to Delhi. We walked away from him, found our way into the station, and walked straight onto our train. The only other mishap that morning was finding our seats in the wrong car (number 5 instead of 8). This was easily remedied. Catching the train to Agra: accomplished.

The boy on the left and girl on the right are Guddu's kids

I would give a lot more details about each activity, but so much has happened that I would rather give a brief overview instead. Once we got off of the train in Agra, we walked out of the station, hoping to find some mode of transportation to our hotel. A man led us to his car, got us inside, and walked away, saying something about getting a ticket in order to leave the parking area and that he wouldn't be our driver. At some point, you just have to believe people, even to the point of sitting alone in a strange car or getting into a car with a man you have never met. haha. Our driver's name was Guddu, and we ended up hiring him to drive us all around Agra for our two days there. He was extremely friendly and very helpful, giving us little tidbits of information like how to say "how much?" in Hindi in order to get a lower price offer. In return, we taught him American idioms like "killing two birds with one stone" and "a piece of cake". 

If it looks dusty, that's because it was!

After checking in early at our hotel, we headed to Taj Mahal. We had to go on Thursday, since it is closed every Friday for worship purposes. It was absolutely stunning, but you could have guessed that. Lara's and my favorite part was the symmetry and the marble inlay/calligraphy work. Like Greek columns and buildings, which were built in order to please the human eye, the Taj Mahal was cleverly built to give the effect of optical allusion. The four outside columns are actually bent outward. Similarly, the Qu'ran calligraphy is larger at the top in order to look the same size from the human standpoint. We were able to go inside, but we had to take our shoes off since it is a holy place. There is a mosque to the left of the Taj, but the Taj itself is a mausoleum. 

One rug could take anywhere from
three months to two years to make

From there, Guddu took us to The Silk Route for lunch. We are loving the food here (even though it's making me a little sick... I'll get used to it lol). After lunch, we went to Agra Fort. It is sixteen palaces, mostly made out of red sandstone, which is quarried here in India. We didn't stay that long, because we went in the middle of the afternoon, and let me tell you -- it is HOT! Like many drivers in India, Guddu takes his customers to places where he gets a commission. We saw three local handicrafts after Agra Fort: marble inlay work, rug making, and embroidery. I told Faythe and Lara that it kind of felt like going to a time share meeting, but, honestly, watching them make their art was really cool! A lot of work goes into each of them, especially the rugs, which are made knot by knot. We bought a few things, and then headed back to the hotel. Since this was our first full day, we were exhausted. We ended up going to bed around 7. Day 1 in Agra: success!