Since the bday plan to visit the Taj hadn’t quite gone as planned, it seemed silly to get up in the dark to get to the Taj by sunrise, then not come back til it was dark again (to see it at sunset – and make the most of our exorbitant (by Indian admission fees) $15 entrance fee) as we had planned, when we had specifically gotten a room with a view of the darn thing. So instead, we decided to make FULL use of our room with a view – and to the contrary, not leave the room at all! After our big Delhi touring day and the subsequent day spent traveling all day long, for my birthday (hey, it still was in the States!) I thought lounging around just sounded excellent. We still got up at sunrise to see it (wasn’t too hard to do since the Muslim chanting started blaring over loudspeakers all over the city promptly at 5:30am), then reveled in going back to bed and hanging out all day, watching some of the new shows – including one of the Discovery ones of none other than the Taj Mahal! It was sure cool to sit there and watch this documentary about it, then sit up and see it right out the window. [ngfilename filename='P1080749.JPG' float=center] We planned to actually go see it the following day after our day of leisure, and again got up before dawn (and again, with assistance from the Muslims). We had no more than walked out the front door than we were offered a rickshaw to the backside of the Taj because…the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays! We thought the guy was pulling our leg just to get a fare out of us – come on, how could a) the Taj Mahal be CLOSED and b) how could we have BOTH missed that memo if it were? But sure enough, it was true! Well, I guess once again that’s the good thing about long-term travel: you can be flexible. Guess we were staying another day. So back to bed we went! Finally, the day came that we could *actually * go see it. And it certainly didn’t disappoint, even after having been looking at it from afar for 3 days now! It was beautiful, and though we didn’t quite make sunrise itself thanks to being stymied by the already-long line (btw, Let’s Go guidebook, getting there at dawn does NOT ensure you’ll “have the place practically to yourself, save a few like-minded backpacker types”), we did get to see how the light changes on the monument from its early morning glow to the stark white of mid-afternoon.

We took our time and browsed around, just taking it all in. We considered taking a tour, and if we go back again we might take one, but we decided we were in the mood just to mosey. It’s absolutely mind-blowing. Not only is it beautiful just to look at from afar, but up close, you can see that the beautiful colors of the flowers and trim as well as the Sanskrit that surrounds the entrance (which gets larger towards the top so that it all appears to be uniform size to one standing on the ground below it, thank you very much) are not paint, but different types of stones to get the color. It’s friggin unbelievable when you look up close and see the detail! I recommend it!

Here’s your history lesson for the day, in brief: the Taj was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife who died giving birth to their 14th child. The year was 1631 and construction took until around 1653, worked on by some 20,000 people. There are signs as you enter the mausoleum itself that say no photography, but when we got in and the flashes were going off like the paparazzi – even the official tour guides were snapping pictures! – we got a few as well, so for those and more, check out the albums from the morning and afternoon. The marble screens inside are phenomenal, especially since they were all carved out of one piece and if there was one screw-up, the whole thing would be a waste. The whole thing is an exquisite, mind-boggling experience.

The Taj was a long-awaited sight to see, and a major milestone on our quest to see some of the best the world has to offer from one of its most different and interesting corners. We had a great day out seeing it, and after our 4 days there, basking in its glow, and the time we spent there just having fun with it, we definitely felt more than just blitz-acquainted with it! It was a blast!

Check out the Morning and the Afternoon albums from the Taj Mahal here!