We got up early to take the train down to Agra to experience the awesomeness that is the Taj Mahal.
Tourists (not native Indians) must pay 1000 rupees (about $17 USD) as opposed to 30 rupees for natives for entrance to the Taj Mahal Our ticket as tourist status got us VIP entrance status, a bottle of water and free shoe coverings to be able to enter the building. Shannon tried to get the Indian rate since she is married to an Indian, but they weren't buying it even though she had the special sticker on her passport that kinda makes her a native.
Walking through the entry way and out into the area where the Taj Mahal sits is so awe inspiring. The building is this massive, beautiful shrine.
It is an ivory-white marble mausoleum in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
In 1631, Mumtaz Mahal died after giving birth to the couple’s 14th child. The grieving Shah Jahan, ordered the building of a magnificent mausoleum across the Yamuna River from his own royal palace at Agra.
Construction began around 1632 and would continue for the next two decades. The chief architect was probably Ustad Ahmad Lahouri, an Indian of Persian descent who would later be credited with designing the Red Fort at Delhi. In all, more than 20,000 workers from India, Persia, Europe and the Ottoman Empire, along with some 1,000 elephants, were brought in to build the mausoleum complex.
