The Taj Mahal and Red Fort

It means “Crown Palace”. Did you know that? The dude built it to memorialize his favorite dead wife (yes, that means he had more than one). He had plans to build an identical one in black onyx across the river for himself, but his youngest son threw him into prison. That put a kink in the building plans. The Taj is beautiful. When asked what our favorite experience about India was, how can we not say the Taj Mahal? It truly is breathtaking.

Everything on the grounds is exactly symmetrical. Besides the Taj itself, there are beautiful gardens, a mosque, and some other building I can’t remember. The detailing on the walls, including the flowers and the chapters from the Quran are completely inlaid. And the whole thing is marble! It’s amazing! We had perfect weather, and I dreamed of spending a whole day there, just sitting for a picnic, playing Frisbee, and enjoying the miraculous view. I told Brett that I expect some equal type of extravagance in my memory some day! =)

So, back to being in prison: the Red Fort is where the ruler was kept imprisoned. The buildings are made of sandstone and marble. The floorplans are open and very Arabic; I envision long, flowing, colorful fabrics draped from the ceilings with candlesticks glowing, reflecting the diamonds that used to be on the bedroom walls in parts of the fort. Many parts and the area in which the ruler was imprisoned face the Taj Mahal. I wouldn’t mind being in that prison, because it truly wasn’t a cell in a basement, but was an entire area of the fort. (balconies, gazebo, marble, and all) The painful part, though, was that he always looked toward the Taj Mahal and the foundation of his own black replica, knowing it would never be completed.

The photos are my favorites from the day in Agra. Next came Jaipur.