Yesterday, I had the chance to visit the Taj Mahal through a last minute opportunity with my organization....and who could say no to another visit to one of the wonders of the world?!? When I woke up at 5:45am to get ready, I pulled open my bedroom curtains, I could see nothing but fog. The last time I went to the Taj Mahal on my Rajasthan vacation, it was pretty foggy, so this time around I wasn't going to allow it to be foggy on my watch!
On our 3 hour drive to Agra, the town where the Taj Mahal is, the fog had lightened up and the sun was starting to come out. It was the start of a great day! After parking the car, we made our way to the ticket booth to get tickets for the Taj Mahal, only to discover that the Taj Mahal was closed until 2:30pm because a high-level official from the Canadian government was visiting. Any time a high-level government official or a celebrity wants to visit the Taj Mahal, they shut it down to the public until the person has left. While it may be a good idea to do that due to security concerns, it also usually happens last minute and so the hundreds of people that are waiting to visit the Taj Mahal sometimes end up not being able to see it.
So instead, we decided to grab a rickshaw and head to the Agra Fort to pass the time for a few hours. On our way to the fort though, we ended up getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and not moving for some time. So then we moved to option B: grab lunch. We had lunch at a great south Indian restaurant and had my fill of a yummy rava masala dosa. Mmmm mmm! By the time we finished, it was almost time for the Taj Mahal to open but we decided to make a second attempt to get to the Agra Fort first. When we got to the Agra Fort, we found out that it was closed because.....you guessed it, the high-level Canadian government official was now visiting the Agra Fort! So we turned around and made our way to the Taj Mahal to see if it was open again.
When we got to the Taj Mahal, we found out some good news and bad news. Good news: it would open in 20 minutes, but the bad news: the line to get tickets was so long that we'd probably end up standing in line for at least an hour. Since we were only there for the day, we decided to pay a guide to jump the line and get tickets for us. Well worth the money!
After much craziness, we had finally made it inside the Taj Mahal! And it was even more breathtaking then when I had visited before. The fog had cleared and with all the rain we had over the last week or so, all the flowers were in bloom. The place was gorgeous!
I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my time here in India.
On our 3 hour drive to Agra, the town where the Taj Mahal is, the fog had lightened up and the sun was starting to come out. It was the start of a great day! After parking the car, we made our way to the ticket booth to get tickets for the Taj Mahal, only to discover that the Taj Mahal was closed until 2:30pm because a high-level official from the Canadian government was visiting. Any time a high-level government official or a celebrity wants to visit the Taj Mahal, they shut it down to the public until the person has left. While it may be a good idea to do that due to security concerns, it also usually happens last minute and so the hundreds of people that are waiting to visit the Taj Mahal sometimes end up not being able to see it.
So instead, we decided to grab a rickshaw and head to the Agra Fort to pass the time for a few hours. On our way to the fort though, we ended up getting stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and not moving for some time. So then we moved to option B: grab lunch. We had lunch at a great south Indian restaurant and had my fill of a yummy rava masala dosa. Mmmm mmm! By the time we finished, it was almost time for the Taj Mahal to open but we decided to make a second attempt to get to the Agra Fort first. When we got to the Agra Fort, we found out that it was closed because.....you guessed it, the high-level Canadian government official was now visiting the Agra Fort! So we turned around and made our way to the Taj Mahal to see if it was open again.
When we got to the Taj Mahal, we found out some good news and bad news. Good news: it would open in 20 minutes, but the bad news: the line to get tickets was so long that we'd probably end up standing in line for at least an hour. Since we were only there for the day, we decided to pay a guide to jump the line and get tickets for us. Well worth the money!
After much craziness, we had finally made it inside the Taj Mahal! And it was even more breathtaking then when I had visited before. The fog had cleared and with all the rain we had over the last week or so, all the flowers were in bloom. The place was gorgeous!
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| Our guide telling us about the marble flower carvings |
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| Sitting on Princess Diana's bench! |
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| So many people! |
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| MONKEYS!! |
I couldn't have asked for a better ending to my time here in India.
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