The Taj

Let's just say that if I ever die giving birth to my husband's fourteenth child, I surely expect a labor of love as grandeour as the Taj Mahal.

Wow.

We arrived, first at the gate, eager for tickets. While the boys went to scrounge some 5am brekky, we sat and waited and waited in a line of tourists next to a line of Indians.

Two hours later, we walked into the monument, and the Taj herself was hiding shyly behind the mist. For about an hour she danced in and out of the fog, barely affording us a view. Yet, during this peaceful hour at sunrise, as we sat on a step and watched in awe, she was her most beautiful.

The closer I got the less impressed I was, and not becuase she isn't worth being impressed by, but that from a distance is the best way to appreciate her.

My favorite part, though, was stopping every few hundred meters and taking some of the most fantastic, candid, fun, and inappropriate pictures with Mike and Miche. We took so, so many incredible shots, which made the experience even better. The people you travel with really, really do make a difference.

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Disclaimer (repeated from blog post 27.12): The worst decision of what I should have brought but didn't? My laptop, for which with, documenting this whole thing, as well as keeping in touch with (and receiving support from?) our friends and family would have allowed us to do.

The pictures taken today, other days, and in the future also would be online by now. I have cursed this decision more than once, and from it add travel advice number 6: Never travel to India without your laptop. Sigh...