Wednesday was Diwali so I had a couple of days off of work, I took advantage of this time off and went up to Delhi to see some more of India. I flew up Monday night and left earlier Tuesday morning for a trip to Agra. The bus ride there was a long one but it was nice to see more of rural India. There would be stretches of huge farms dotted with the trees and then we'd come across shops that were town centers for the nearby village.
We went to the Agra Fort first which is where the royal family lived when Agra was the capital and part of the fort is still used by the military today. You can also see the Taj Mahal from the back - it looked very majestic from a distance.
But the Taj Mahal was even more amazing close up! The detail of the marble is really unbelievable. Seeing how intricate all of the details are, and knowing it was all done by hand, made me understand why it took 22 years to complete. I spent a long time there so I got to see it in the daylight and as the sun was setting, it was definitely something I'll never forget.
On the bus ride back to Delhi we stopped at Mathura the birthplace of Lord Krishna, a Hindu god. We also stopped at Brindavan where one of the oldest surviving temples is located and also where Krishna and Radha, another Hindu god, lived. Both places are important Hindu pilgrimage sites. We didn't get to Brindavan until late in the night, it was really cool because we walked through the lanes of the town to get to the different sites. The tour guide warned us not to stray because if we got lost it would be tough to find our way out, all of the lanes looked similar and the town was big so it felt like we were in a maze. The layout and look of the town actually reminded me of some of the street scenes from the movie Aladdin, I guess the art directors did their research. It was a long trip, we didn't get back to Delhi until 3:30 in the morning but it was worth the long bus rides. India has so much history it was a fascinating day learning about and seeing some of it.
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