Taj Mahaaaaaaaaallllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's a song by Sam Roberts where he sings about the Taj Mahal (I think - maybe I'm just making this up), and that song was stuck in my head the whole time this morning.

I am such a tourist (but at least I didn't do the "holding the Taj in the palm of my hand" shot).

The Taj Mahal is so perfect that it's almost hard to fully appreciate its beauty. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, or was affected by the weather (it would be typical that it would rain - and in the most Vancouver-like grey drizzle as well), but I found I was getting more distracted by other tourists than I was appreciating the reason why I was there. I didn't get much of the romance out of it - all I could see were masses of people around me taking lots of photos ("Oh, look at me in front of the Taj! Now here I am holding it! Now with my partner! Now by myself...").
That said, it is still breathtakingly beautiful, and its beauty isn't weather-dependent, so the rain didn't really matter (and made it much more pleasant to walk around). We went right when it opened, at 6am, which was perfect as it was much quieter than when we left. Our hotel has a really good view from the rooftop restaurant, and so we'd already seen it in a glorious sunset as well.
Someone needs to work on her composition skils

We arrived in Agra early yesterday morning. It was hotter than Varanasi, and there are a lot more pushy rickshaw drivers (can you tell that I'm not a huge fan of Agra?). In the afternoon, I went to Fatepur Sikri, which is about an hour out of Agra. It was built by Emperor Akbar, and was to be his new capital, until water shortages meant that it was deserted not long after it was built. It is so beautiful, and I'm really glad I went. This is apparently the largest gate in Asia. And I need to get used to being such a tourist (the nice thing about it being so far away is that you can't see my embarrassed smile)
Inside Fatepur, which is a massive courtyard with a mosque, cemetary, and a tunnel that supposedly goes all the way to the Taj Mahal.
Inside a tomb. People make leave cloth and flowers inside (on the right), and tie a string around the windows to make a wish.
I just tried to add more photos of Sikri but they didn't work. Sikri was even more beautiful. Right bfore I left a big wind storm suddenly whipped up, which was quite dramatic.

Anyway, now that the rain has started, it's much cooler, and much more pleasant. Tomorrow we leave bright and early (on a 6:30am train) to Jaipur. Can't wait!
ps - a full update of food adventures (including details of the best veggie burger I've ever had - trust the Indians to be able to take something tasty and make it even tastier!) to come! Both feeling a bit dodgy stomache-wise, so not really into food at the moment (a rare occurence).