Today we travelled from Delhi to Agra. First we stopped at the Humayun’s Tomb. This was built in the 15th century as the final resting place of the second Mughal Emperor and his family. All was very impressive considering these were built 600 years ago.
A bonus was the music video being filmed above. Our guide, Ashok, was very thrilled to see them filming this at the Tomb! We ejnjoyed watching them film the video, he was REALLY excited to get this close to the sitarist. Apparently he is the son of a huge star in India. Ashok wanted to make sure we got a picture of HIM standing in front of the film set!
Also, on our drive to Agra we passed hundreds of 20-30 story condominiums. Yes, hundreds. India continues to grow in population, the government is planning for the next couple of hundred million! We are told that the 2011 census was 1.3 billion people. Indeed, the population of the state were the Taj Mahal is located is 200 million people. The US population is approximately 300 million.
Next was the Itmad-ud-Daulah, also known as the Baby Taj. It was built by Nurjahan, Emperor Jahangier’s queen in memory of her father, Mirza Ghias Beg from 1622-1628. This monument was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. We were told it was a “starter” monument. They learned from its construction and layout and applied it to the design of the Taj Mahal.
We finally arrived at the Taj Mahal in the afternoon. Stunning in the evening light. Just a taste of our experience the next day at dawn. Our wake up call is at 4:30am. I will hold off on any pictures till tomorrow.
Tourists, like us.
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