I got to India 2 days ahead of the tiger trip to take an overnight drive to see the Taj Mahal. It helped ease the 13.5 hour time change and was very relaxing. Its only a 4 hour drive from Delphi. I would not have gone to India just to see it but it made a resonable side trip to see one of the most beutiful buildings in the world. A someone who appreciates art work and architecture it was worth the overnight trip.
The Taj Mahal is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. The tomb is the centrepiece of a 17-hectare (42-acre) complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house using local red sandstone, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides by a crenellated wall.
It was overcast in the afternoon I visited the adjoining gardens as well as the next morning when I visited the main complex. But an advantage of that is the requirer details of the building show up well in the even light. Late moring got a little lighter. Words are inadequate to describe the elaborate beautiful details using gem stones like jasper. And I do love domes wheather in Florance Italy or in India. It took over 20 years to build and the artisans of today still make beautiful objects for sale. Inside are the 2 caskets surrounded by beautiful decorate work. As is custom of Muslim buildinsg etc no humans are depicted - just nature and patterns. It was a weekend so tons of people were there enjoying the views of the river as well as the complex itself. I was lucky there was no scaffolding which is used to maintain the building in terms of cleaning and repair. It looked perfect.
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