After Jaipur, we took the early train to Agra, where we stayed in the "Taj Plaza" about 1/4 mile from the Taj Mahal. We can see the Taj from our room, which is great. The Taj is the best sight we have seen in India so far, and is immaculate. They take very good care of it, and even make 
you wear booties over your shoes to go inside. Kristin was very excited about her booties, as you can see from the photo. The Taj was built for one of the wives of the Emperor Shah Jahan. She must have been a looker, because this place is nice! If you ever go to the Taj, check on the moon patterns - it closes for 2 days before the full moon and 2 days after (including the day of the full moon) and is also closed on Fridays; so it could be closed a full week. Luckily we made it by a day! The next day we went to see the old fort which is very impressive and has a nice view of the Taj, and the Baby Taj (not as 
big or pretty as the real one). We also found a beer guy down the street from our hotel who has the coldest drinks we have had since we left. He doesn't like Ben though because he tried to haggle over the price the first day and failed - but we ended up turning around and buying them anyway. The next time Ben went to buy beer from him, he tried to double the price on him! We also saw another monument - the name escapes us - that had big lawns around the building filled with peacocks, gazelles, and monkeys. Naturally, our camera was dead so we didn't get to take a picture of any of it, but I was extremely tempted to go around the lawns and pick up the Peacock feathers that littered the area.
you wear booties over your shoes to go inside. Kristin was very excited about her booties, as you can see from the photo. The Taj was built for one of the wives of the Emperor Shah Jahan. She must have been a looker, because this place is nice! If you ever go to the Taj, check on the moon patterns - it closes for 2 days before the full moon and 2 days after (including the day of the full moon) and is also closed on Fridays; so it could be closed a full week. Luckily we made it by a day! The next day we went to see the old fort which is very impressive and has a nice view of the Taj, and the Baby Taj (not as 
big or pretty as the real one). We also found a beer guy down the street from our hotel who has the coldest drinks we have had since we left. He doesn't like Ben though because he tried to haggle over the price the first day and failed - but we ended up turning around and buying them anyway. The next time Ben went to buy beer from him, he tried to double the price on him! We also saw another monument - the name escapes us - that had big lawns around the building filled with peacocks, gazelles, and monkeys. Naturally, our camera was dead so we didn't get to take a picture of any of it, but I was extremely tempted to go around the lawns and pick up the Peacock feathers that littered the area.From Agra we took a train to New Delhi. We read mixed reviews about it so were not sure what to expect, but once we arrived it didn't seem any more dirty than other places and actually a little more modern. We found a budget hotel in the Main Bazaar which was right across the street from the train station - nice when we arrived at 10:45 pm. Since our hotel was pretty centrally located, we decided to just walk around the entire next day and take a break from the tourist sights. Most of the touts here seem to take No for an answer after the first or second time which is a nice change of pace from some of the other areas we have been. The tuk tuks do not want to turn on the meters for foreigners though; so we have to haggle with them to turn it on or get a price that seems somewhat reasonable. There are quite a few people staying in our hotel (he actually had to deny people the night we arrived and move us to another room the next day since someone else reserved our room) and we met a Brit named David who was really nice. He had already been here a couple of days and we decided to walk around together - it was Monday and most tourists sights were closed due to Eid (marking the end of Ramadan). We took the 
metro (Spotless, Quick, Easy, and Air Conditioned!) to the Laxim Temple which is Hindu Temple. There was no charge to get in and it was amazing!! We hit it right when they opened the gates for people to worship the various forms of God which was something special to see. The Hindus believe in one God that can take many different forms (something Ben and I did not fully understand before arriving here) so within the temple there are different forms of the same God that people pray to and provide donations. The temple was huge; behind it was a place for kids to play around on slides, climb huge artificial rocks and lions which was all surrounded by water fountains - but they weren't turned on. We decided to swing into a bar and have a beer since
it was so hot before moving over to the India Gate for sunset. When we got to the India Gate, I was bombarded with people wanting to take pictures with me. This has happened a few times before at major sights like the Taj, Red Fort, etc but I think this was a bit different; people just started pushing there friends near me and taking photos. Finally Ben came in and dragged me out of the chaos! The India Gate is actually a war tribute but you would not normally guess it from all the food stalls, cotton candy, toys, etc. From the Gate we went to the Old Fort since David heard there was a light show that started around 7. When we got there, it was like a carnival! 
They had Ferris Wheels, Game Booths, Plays going on, etc. Ben won a package of cookies from a ring toss game, but was not so lucky with the baseball game where you throw the ball to knock off all the cups. Actually, he didn't hit any cups on his first game. We had a really good time and ended up being on a local TV network when I was taking a bite of something we got from a food stall. I can just see the caption: "Messy American Eater at the Fair!".
metro (Spotless, Quick, Easy, and Air Conditioned!) to the Laxim Temple which is Hindu Temple. There was no charge to get in and it was amazing!! We hit it right when they opened the gates for people to worship the various forms of God which was something special to see. The Hindus believe in one God that can take many different forms (something Ben and I did not fully understand before arriving here) so within the temple there are different forms of the same God that people pray to and provide donations. The temple was huge; behind it was a place for kids to play around on slides, climb huge artificial rocks and lions which was all surrounded by water fountains - but they weren't turned on. We decided to swing into a bar and have a beer since
it was so hot before moving over to the India Gate for sunset. When we got to the India Gate, I was bombarded with people wanting to take pictures with me. This has happened a few times before at major sights like the Taj, Red Fort, etc but I think this was a bit different; people just started pushing there friends near me and taking photos. Finally Ben came in and dragged me out of the chaos! The India Gate is actually a war tribute but you would not normally guess it from all the food stalls, cotton candy, toys, etc. From the Gate we went to the Old Fort since David heard there was a light show that started around 7. When we got there, it was like a carnival! 
They had Ferris Wheels, Game Booths, Plays going on, etc. Ben won a package of cookies from a ring toss game, but was not so lucky with the baseball game where you throw the ball to knock off all the cups. Actually, he didn't hit any cups on his first game. We had a really good time and ended up being on a local TV network when I was taking a bite of something we got from a food stall. I can just see the caption: "Messy American Eater at the Fair!". 
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