India Day 6B: The Great Red Fort
In all the amazingness of the last two days we didn't have much time to sit and blog so I will attempt to catch everyone up. Yesterday, we arrived in Agra in the throws of heat, in fact our first meal was up on the roof of our "hotel", under a tin sheet cover... Needless to say, this was the beginning of our true education as to why tourists avoid India in the summertime. To give you an idea of our living conditions we have to forge through goats along a back ally to gain access to our room which included "A/C" (notice the heavy use of quotations here). The room was for "3 guests" which included a full sized bed. (Emphases on the period). But, who really cares? We dined with the freaking Taj Mahal as our scenic view!!
Our first order of tourism was The Red Fort, which in hindsight may be my most memorable portion of this trip so far.. As I write this I find it difficult to put into words the shear sized, elegance, preservation, and aw inspiring this place was. Try to imagine a giant medieval fortress, including draw bridge, moat, 100ft walls, and medieval anti siege architecture, made completely from a deep red sand stone. Then after gaining access through a series of huge gateways the innermost sanctum is, in stark contrast to the surrounding red stone, all white marble palaces, buildings, and terraces enveloped by lush gardens. Truly jaw dropping. Next we visited the Southern Gardens to watch the Taj as the sunset, again my sense of beauty as been redefined. And so ended yesterday...
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