Livia in India: Taj Mahal

We arrived in Agra in the early evening, just as the sun set. We had a moment of concern as Hanna read her guidebook which said that the Taj Mahal is closed on Mondays (argh!) but the driver reassured us that it was talking rubbish and it was actually closed on Fridays (makes more sense). Book goes down in our estimation (I'd thought it was a good one before).

Too tired after early mornings to do anything in the evening beyond dinner, showers and an early night, with a quick call back home which was lovely even if I did manage to mess up.

Well before dawn on Monday morning, we dragged ourselves out of our beds and I made use of the time difference to call back to the UK properly for a short chat. We met the driver at the appointed time (5.45am!!!) and drove the km or so to the Taj Mahal parking lot, where we contracted a cycle rickshaw (actually the driver did the negotiations, we just got on and held on tight). I wondered if I should have lent him my cycle light (I brought it so I could see the pietra dura inside the mausoleum - there are some amazing marbles which glow when you shine a torch directly on them).

We bought our tickets (Rs 750) and went through the security scanners. You can't take anything electrical apart from cameras in the complex. Mobile phones etc. are definite no-nos. Also no food or drink except the bottle of water that they give you with your ticket (and you need the shoe covers too which are rubbish but save you having to take off your shoes when the marble is early-morning chilly or mid-day sizzling).

Photos:
Sun rising.

Yamuna river very early (boatman being picturesque):

Lawn roller or spiker or something:

Pod People with green feet:

This guy was very keen to get the perfect shot... I don't think it worked though.

In case anyone was in any doubt, the Mausoleum is the Taj Mahal, and it's pretty big and white and has domes on it and generally everyone around is pointing their cameras at it:

One of many "money shots":

And another one:

Hanna and I were pretty efficient at swapping cameras so we each ended up of photos of the other quite consistently.
During this bit, we got mobbed by a group of young Indian men who wanted to have their photos taken with us and the Taj Mahal. Well actually I drifted to one side and started taking photos of Hanna being mobbed (sorry Hanna!)