Agra

After a couple of hours of well needed rest our day in Agra began with lunch in a restaurant which was run by a Finnish lady who had moved out to Agra. The restaurant was used to raise profits for an NGO she runs helping local people. The food was really good – and they served beer in large coffee mugs. Then we took a 'magic bus' (7seater minibus) to The Red Fort. This was a beautiful fort build by a Mogul king and is now still used by the Indian army so only 20% is on public display. The carvings and stonework within is extraordinary and we had a Guide who explained all about the Muslim King and his Hindu Wife. He wanted to bring all the Religions together so the carvings around the fort reflect all different faiths combined. Unfortunately many previous visitors to the fort thought it fit to scribe their names on the walls and it really detracted from the place – a real shame. The guide we had told us many things about the fort and it's occupants – mostly date after date after date, so I really couldn't tell you much more on the history – go read up on it! After this we took our Magic bus around to the Taj Mahal, our ticket to the Fort entitled us to entry on the same day. The Taj is stunning an it really does take your breath away, How the stone stays so white and clean in a ll the smog and with all the people is incredible. We arrived at around 4pm and stayed till just before dust. With the ticket we got a free bottle of water and shoe covers to wear when on the 'second level' This is where the mausoleum is and to be honest it's not worth joining the 2nd queue to go in to it, It is dark, the tombs are surrounded by a 6ft high lattice fence and you cannot take photos however it is worth going up to take some snaps from outside. Finally tired out we headed out to a small hotel where our guide was waiting with all our bags (you can take very little into the Taj with you) Our evening meal was at a very good Indian/Chinese restaurant in town. The food was excellent, however I did leave my bag and have to get our mini bus to stop whilst I ran back for it, The good side to it was we got to see a Wedding procession complete with horse drawn carriage, a band, dancers and torches parade down a road (so everyone wasn't to bothered!) I'm writing this on the State Bus to Jaipur not a bad bus and the good thing is you can't see where you are going AND its daylight the roads are much safer!