Here is our chalet to the Taj. The funny thing? This old beat up van is "pollution free." No idea how they managed this...perhaps they removed the whole engine and replaced it? Troy is talking to our guide in this shot--our driver acquired his services. It became very apparent that we needed an escort as the day wore on.
Here is the entrance to the Taj looking back from the Taj itself. I was to busy taking videos...until they took away my camera... to get this building from the front! This gives you an idea of how large this landscape is...the entrance to the Taj is a little under a 10 minute walk.
To give you a better idea of its size...remember this is just the entrance!
As you walk through this building there is an opening that is designed to "frame" the Taj
On the other side they take away your video camera and lock it in a locker, giving you the key. I love India, you never know if there is really a locker, if there is really someone handling these things....your guide just tells you that you have to pay the man standing by this entrance 50 rupees to run your camera past the door, and then you have to pay him 50 more rupees to store your camera.
We got some good pics while walking toward the Taj, primarily because our guide yelled at people to move out of the way and told us where the good shots were! This one would have been perfect...damn that hand!
On each side of the Taj is a "poor man's Taj". CRAZY! These buildings were designed to balance the Taj. One was originally a temple and the other was a guest house. They are identical!
Not sure what the story on this was...lots of women dipping their feet in the pool outside the poor man Taj
So before you are allowed to enter the Taj you have to cover your feet or take off your shoes. Yeah you are in INDIA where most people do not have shoes so you choose to cover your feet...and hopefully you have a guide like we did who brings covers for you...cause guess what? There is no one assigned to this duty, just a bunch of folks that show up everyday a pull the old covers out of the trash and sell them to you for a variety of prices....Guard = GOOD.
And we are off! Here is the walkway you take to get up to the main level of the Taj.
Finally when you get up to the top...guess what? IMPOSSIBLE to take a pic of this thing! Just to big! And then you can't take a pic inside....not allowed! So you get in line and the guide pushes and shoves you through the door while paying off the guard to get you through...and shows you all of the special jewels that are carved into the marble. Here is a picture of some work outside the door...there is much much more inside.
The Taj was amazing, beautiful, overwhelming...so according to the learning channel, I have 8 more wonders to observe:
1. Great Wall of China
2. Pyramids
3. Angkor Wat
4. Panama Canal
5. Sydney Opera House
6. Taj Mahal
7. Mount Rushmore
8. Trans-Siberian Railroad
9. Machu Picchu
10. Golden Gate Bridge
Think I will hold out on the Pyramids until the terrorism calms down a bit...had enough of being in cities being bombed for a while...perhaps I should see if the Machu Picchu railroad is running again...
