Agra Train ride.

We decided to catch the train to Agra.  It’s three and a half hours on the train.  First class in India on the train is not the same as first class in NZ.  But they did keep bringing you food and drink.  The seats are like our bus seats but with more room.

I read most of the way.  Mum saw a lot of bare bums by the train tracks as we passed villages.  The train tracks seemed to be the public toilet.

Agra fort

Agra fort was made of red sandstone that had been in the process of being covered with white marble.  I got to feed squirrels which was my highlight.   

But mum and dad loved it because it wasn’t so much a ruin as the Jaipur forts.  They were actively restoring it.  Not like other monuments around that world that aren’t allowed to be touched.  It was huge.  When the English were in India they had used the huge meeting hall for storage of ammunition so we were lucky that they didn’t blow it up.  These two pics are of the area they stored it all.  before that it was used for the emperor to hold court.

The guy who built the Taj Mahal was imprisoned here by his son.  And he died here.

Taj Mahal

I thought the Taj Mahal’s history was very romantic.  An emperor’s (Shah Jahan)  wife died and he loved her so much that he built her the Taj Mahal for her grave.   A monument to their love. It took twenty two years to build.  I think it is the biggest grave I have ever seen.  It was completely made of marble and gem stone.  None of the pretty pictures were painted they were all inlaid gem stones. We saw how they ground the shapes in the pieces and chiseled the marble to fit them.  It takes forever!!  They use little sharp knives and tap into the marble with the knife.  There was a guest house on one side and a temple on the other side.  They were huge.  The only Asymmetrical thing about it was the two fake marble coffins that were put above the real ones so that visitors could see what they looked like because we weren’t allowed down into the actual tomb.  You can only go down there three times a year on a special religious day.

The four towers around the Taj lean out slightly so that if they fell they would not fall on the tomb.  The whole thing is built on water tanks.  So the water would absorb shock if anything happened like an earthquake and the building would stay standing.  It was built by Persians that the emperor brought over.

Gateway hotel fashion show dinner on the roof.

We had dinner on the roof of the hotel for dad’s birthday.  There was a fashion show below us in the hotel grounds.  There was a kid’s song about shoes that the lyrics were totally me!  Cause I used to be called Imelda Marcos cause I always wore every one else’s shoes and I still love shoes.  I love the words but hate the song!!!!  And I bought a pair of peacock shoes at our hotel too!!!!  You have to listen to it
https://youtu.be/GHWUrSsnDYM

These are my shoes:

I also had traditional Henna painting done on my hands.

So that was our birthday weekend for dad.  We went to the baby taj and a live bollywood show about the Taj love story the real taj Mahal the Agra fort and rooftop dining with a fashion show on below for shoes and then the All Blacks won the world cup.  Dad's best birthday ever.