Chapter Six: Agra

Agra is the home of Fatehpur Sikri (a grand fortress built in the 1500's) as well as the Taj Mahal.  Throughout my life I have seen many pictures of the Taj Mahal and heard it talked about many times.  I think when most people are asked to name one site or temple in India they will almost always say the Taj Mahal.  Because of this notoriety, I was expecting it to be a pretty well developed route to get there from Delhi, but boy was I wrong.  6 hours of small winding, crowded roads through tiny Indian farm villages, cows all over the roads, never going more than 35 miles per hour the whole way, and in 105 degree weather!  

Agra was a small dirty little city with one reason for being on the map, the Taj!  We left our room at sunrise and walked over to the gates surrounding this esteemed temple that we had heard so much about.  As we walked through the gates and actually saw the Taj Mahal with the Indian sun rising behind it, our breath was unexpectedly taken away with wonder.  It was magnificent!  Mughal emperor Shah Jahan bankrupted his kingdom to build this mausoleum, but all these years later it brings people from all over the world to an obscure little town in rural India to bask in it's splendor.  

From Agra we took that long hot ride back to Delhi to catch a train to Chandigarh.......

Monkeys everywhere

Ah!  Chai and Palak Paneer

Harmonium

Giving an offering and making three wishes

This little girl followed me all around the temple.

The little black dots are huge bee hives on the ceiling...

Agra is known for this red stone.

My little friend.

BEE HIVES!!!

Just a goat wondering around the temple...

Indians have a spiritual respect for cows and thusly they can do whatever they want.  They roam around the streets, sleep in the middle of the road, and beg for food like dogs.  And, since Indians feel it is really bad kharma to disrespect a cow, they always feed them.

Taj Mahal

Of course!

On the balcony of the Taj Mahal

The cool marble of the Taj was a great relief from the 110 degree weather.

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Chapter Five: Delhi

Delhi in a nutshell was like entering a loud, crowded, colorful sauna where we were instantly celebrities and everywhere we went people wanted to have their photo taken with us and simultaneously charge us way too much for every service imaginable.  We met up with our old friend Justin (He and Daniel grew up in Iowa together) in Delhi and the adventure began.  Our 'hotel' was located in the Bhargag district, which was miles from any other tourists and gave us a very quick and intense introduction to real big city Indian culture.  Thousands of narrow streets lined with clothes lines, fruit stands, cows, and hundreds of little shops all as large as an American's walk-in closet (Indians have an amazing ability of utilizing very little space).  We hired a wonderful driver, "Sam", to take us around Delhi and show us some of the famous sights as well as the hidden markets and restaurants unknown to foreigners.  We spent three days exploring hot, crowded, exciting Delhi and then made our way down to Agra......

Delhi at sunrise

People slept on their roof in the Bhargag district

Our first Indian bed

Met up with our old friend Justin from Iowa

The Red Fort

The Red Fort

Old friends

Museum of war

Two artists restoring an old temple at the Red Fort.

I was hesitant to ask people if I could take their picture, but so many people asked to have a picture taken with me, so I would turn around and ask them if I could photograph them in return.  I quickly learned that Indians do not smile in their photographs.

Largest Mosque in India

Our first Indian meal: Yellow Dahl, butter naan and a chili pepper

Indian Sun rising

Hanging out on the roof.

Our first hotel

The amazing Lotus temple.  This is a Bahai temple where all religions can come and worship in silence in this grant building.

The India gate.

Ha!

Delhi streets at dusk

Chapter Four: Earning our wings

Portland to Minneapolis - 3 hours
Minneapolis to London - 8 hours
London to Dubai - 7 hours
Dubai to Delhi - 3 hour
Not including layovers, 21 hours in the air!
We left our dear Portland on May 1st and finally made it to Delhi (with a little pit stop in London) on May 4th.

Glaciers

European Countryside

Trying to adjust to the constantly changing time zones

Dubai

New Delhi Airport

We stayed the night in London in between flights.  I watched the sun rise over London and understood the TRUE meaning of English Breakfast tea.

flying over Greenland

Miles above everything

Emerites Air was an enchanting airline.It had stars on the ceiling to make us all feel like we were sleeping under the stars.

Chapter Three (Part two): Last days in the USA

Our last few weeks here in the states have been full of, packing, traveling around to different shows that Daniel has had with a few of his bands, and spending some great time with friends and family.

For my birthday present Ben threw me an Indian dinner party

Classic Skip-Bo tournament with Gma!

Spending quality time with my very favorite Alex

Daniel has been pretty much living with his guitar in his hands for the past few weeks.

RRI friends saying their last goodbyes.

Hanging out with one of our favorite Portlanders

Saying goodbyes to the family

Celebrating 2 years old with the darling Dylan James Harris

The Merrell Brother Duo had several gigs over the past few weeks, keeping them busy and keeping us all entertained.