agra, india

after landing in india, exploring old delhi, new delhi, then

 going 6 hours to jaipur and taking an elephant ride,

we headed to agra -- home of the famous taj mahal. we were

looking most forward to the taj, but didn't expect all of the

other things to see in this place. on our way to agra we

stopeed in abhaneri, which was very humbling but such

an amazing and memorable village to visit. we saw the

famous chand baori step well here, one of the oldest

and most interesting landmarks in rajasthan. it was

built for the goddess of joy & happiness. also of note,

it was where they filmed in the well for batman. you

tell me which part chase was more interested in :)

this is basically an inverted pyramid that points

toward the ground instead of up. because it gets

so hot here, this stepwell served as a cool place down

in the bottom of it. it was a crazy thing to see, and

chase of course flew his copter to get some good shots.

^^ from above: it's hard to see how deep it is, 

but this still shows the crazy design of it.

the village here was one of my favorite stops we had.

the people were so humble but so beautiful, and 

i loved seeing them in their tiny town that was so

simple. they are so talented and we watched this

woman weave in awe of her skills. i wanted a rug! ^^

^^ we continued along the road and started to see more

green and more lushness after lots of dryness. how

pretty are these roadside flowers? we stopped for

lunch at this pretty outdoor restaurant and enjoyed

the perfect weather. november is a good month here!

chase happened to open the guest book at this restaurant to 

a page with some of our friends from home ... the jowers

in salt lake city! we could not believe what a small world it is.

we stopped at a pashmina factory and chase decided

to try on 20 scarves while i shopped for gifts :)

as we finally pulled into agra, we were back to the

insane streets including this cute little kid riding

on the back of a motorcycle and holding onto these

shoe boxes. he saw all of us taking pictures and

smiled back at us, probably thinking we were crazy --

while we thought he was crazy! those india roads... :)

we played with this darling monkey friend on the

street for a while. i could NOT get over the monkeys.

we also met and played with these cute kiddos and

handed out peanut butter to them since they don't have

it there! they were confused by it but ended up loving it :)

^^ we checked into our hotel, the jaypee palace

which was our nicest hotel of the trip. it was

much appreciated after not feeling great and 

staying in all different places. we loved it here.

^^ greeted with leis and these beautiful views.

it felt like hawaii in india and we got to relax

before visiting the the taj mahal the next day.

the day before the taj we paid a visit to the red sandstone 

agra fort, which was built in 1565. the incredible maze of

courtyards, marble mosques & lavish private chambers 

showed how the mughal empire lived. this was so pretty &

 it's considered part of the inspiration for the taj mahal. ^^

those walls + doors ...

these gardens amazed us along with all of the grounds.

it was so interesting to see the depravity on the streets

and then go tour a major, opulent palace like this. that

sums up india right there, overwhelming contrast. ^^

monkeys holding their babies ... killed me.

what could be cuter???

^^ high walls that protected the fort from intruders

we had a long day of driving to and around agra,

but luckily our driver mani kept us safe on those

crazy roads! more details about the group we 

booked with are coming. please look at this elephant

casually walking right on the street with cars! ^^

we toured a tile factory and were again baffled by

the level of art and craftmanship in india. i love the

level of culture and tradition that comes through.

^^ we also saw the "mini taj mahal" a monument

that provided lots of inspiration for the real thing.

we ended the night at a bollywood performance,

something i really wanted to see while in india.

it was fun to see this piece of indian culture, and

the performance was about the building of the

taj mahal so it was very fitting to see that night.

and let's not forget that chase talked a tuk-tuk driver

into letting him have a turn at the wheel ... after a 

few stalls he got it and was circling all around the

parking lot and making everyone laugh..as always.

the LAST post from india to come -- the taj mahal!

...and our video. thanks for coming along!

xo