Taj Mahal

This morning we enjoy breakfast in the hotel. The spread is impressive. And comprises two rooms almost anything you could want, including an omelets-making station. We eat and then meet to go and visit the Taj Mahal from the inside. We arrive around 9 AM, and hop on a golf cart to carry us the rest of the way to the main entrance. Again we must go through security (they really searched our bags here, they were not kidding about it). You cannot bring any sharp objects, food, or other items in. They confiscate a protein bar I forgot I had in my purse. 
Next, we walk on through the south gate towards the Taj Mahal. The peripheral buildings themselves are an impressive site. The writing around the archways is an ancient prayer, but what is amazing is that the writing was made bigger the higher up you went so that from the ground, the writing would all appear to be the same size to the viewer. We pass through the building to stand overlooking the Taj Mahal as it reflects in the pool in front of it. There are many people here, trying g to take a picture. We have come early in the day and are told this is not that bad of a crowd size, and that by noon or later it is so packed here. We walk up to the Taj Mahal, get footies on the bottoms of our feet, and then walk through the building. The stairs to get up to the temple are steep, but a railing is provided. We walk around up too before entering the bulking inside to view his wife's resting place (well really she's down below, and this is just a replica of what lies beneath the floor now), and his eventual resting place. This spot (with his tomb off to one side) is the only way in which the symmetry of the architecture is ignored. We walk around inside, listen to our names being echoed by a gentleman offering to chat it, and see how the marble is translucent and the cornelian gems are like fire under a flashlight. It is a very impressive central dome, the site of which is so breathtaking the pictures do not do it justice. 

Normally we would next go visit the Fort in this area, which is one of the most impressive. But as we are needing to get on to the next place, we decide to go now. We say goodbye to Sanjay and continue on our way. This will be a 5-6 hour drive or so.  We stop halfway for lunch at s lovely restaurant and gift shop and continue on. We arrive in the afternoon and after visiting a few hotels we check in at Khem Villas, a very nicely landscaped property with canvas walled tents on platforms and thatched roof villas and cottages. We sit around the pond area and enjoy a drink while chatting with the naturalist guide about the wildlife on the property, as well as spy out some planets and stars through his birding scope. After dinner, we turn in for the night as we have an early AM wake-up for a safari drive to hopefully spot a tiger.