Jan 2 2010

Well last night we had a great meal of lamb in black bean sauce and lamb on a sizzling hot plate surrounded by lots of veggies. To finish the meal we had something new anise seeds (licorice) and large crystals of sugar , very mouth cleansing and different. We got up after a nice sleep at 6:30 had a great breakfast.Our driver and guide were ready to roll at 7:30 but.....it was brutally foggy!When we got close to the Taj Mahal we were transfered into a large golf buggy and driven 200 meters from a gate.there were lots street vendors trying to sell us everything we would never us , books, postcards, snow globes bracelets ,elephant carvings etc. Once we got in through the gates we still couldn't see anything the same could be said for the second gates also,in fact we were about half way along the infinity pool before we could see the outline (thank goodness we saw it from a distance yesterday).it was spectacular as we got closer ,the aura created by the white marble was impressive,this was a real love the king had for his bride.Inside was great too but there were supposed to be no photography allowed and everyone was taking pictures so of course the photo police and park staff are blowing whistles to make everyone stop and so most foreign nationals kept doing whatever they wanted. The adjoining residences and mosque done in red sandstone were equally impressive. My biggest concern is that the current repairs are not being done to the standards of 400 years ago, probably too expensive but this building deserves it. One would hope it would be thee for a long time. The day remained cool 7-8 degrees Celsius and very foggy until we arrived in Delhi at 3:30 .We plan to go to a bazaar and pick up our carpet have a healthy meal and go to bed early, as our Daughter Caitlin will arrive after midnight and tomorrow we fly to Varanasi tomorrow..