IN pictures

Sitting on the bench in front of the Taj. Something funny happened to the lighting, so you have to tilt your screen to see the Taj itself in the background. Our guide, Master, took this photo. I wish I had a photo of him taking the photo, with his legs wide apart, squatting down, being VERY serious about his guide job. He was so serious, in fact, that we pretty quickly got rid of him. We had to be polite in order to not hurt his feelings, but he was very stern and told us all we needed to know about the Taj and....more. It was very crowded and hectic there. A little overwhelming. But still amzingly beautiful. For those who do not know, the Taj Mahal is a tomb for the emporerShah Jihah's 4th wife who bore him 14 sons by the age of 38. The Shah is also entombed there now, next to her. There is all kinds of crazy gemstone inlay covering the whole place. It truly is amazing and special. We changed Walker's diaper in one of the side alcoves. not many kids can say they did that!


A monster with Pa on the Train to Agra, where the Taj is located. Our train ride there was uneventful. On the way back, Walker slept, and we had a most delightful 3 hours talking to our seat mates. A group of college students from Kashmir (a Nothern Indian state) and a medical sales rep for Samsung, Deepak. Truly great guys. We learned a lot, and so did they. We also got to talk to a really friendly and kind Sikh.


A sign for the clean toilet. On the other side the sing just said "toilet" so of course I went to the clean one. Afterwards I went and checked out the other toilet, and it smelled terrible!


The dirty toilet.


The clean toilet. Pay "as you wish." I paid rs. 10....about 20 cents.


A building at the red Fort in Delhi. It is supposed to be surrounded by water, and was in the old days. Now they can't keep it full due to the expense. Still so pretty. Walker was trying to climb over the wall. He has been really interested in running. This is fairly new.


The grand entrance to the Red fort. These forts are seriously the kind of places that you try to make when you are building sand castles. The Red Fort in Delhi even has a gigantic moat! But there is no water in it anymore. It makes me yearn for pictures of what it used to be like. These people were not messing around with their forts and palaces.

Today we are going to go to the Delhi Children's Park that we found out about form Deepak. Then we are going to concentrate on shopping around Pahar Ganj, the old market (Main Bazaar) where we are staying. Believe it or not, the only thing we have bought so far is a hat for Walker. it is colder than we thought or I remember. Brr. So glad we brought THREE blankies! They are keeping us warm and make us feel homey.

I also want to get some mehendi (henna) on my hands. You know...when in Rome. And I will purchase some chappals (Indian sandals). And Walker wants a pair of Indian pajamas; we saw some in his size!

Well, it is definitely time to go, as Walker is .....um...shall I say FULL of energy at the moment and we need to go let him run.

Have a great day everybody!