Moving through India

Yesterday we got up early and made it to the Taj Mahal for sunrise. It was amazing!! The building is truly beautiful and it was the perfect time of day to be there...not too crowded and not to hot! We spent a few hours just wandering around and enjoying the ambiance. Then we walked to nearby Agra fort and found it to be a surprisingly amazing building as well. It started as a military establishment, was turned into a palace, and later a prison, so it has elements of all three. If I were ever to have to be imprisoned though I think that would be the place. It has beautiful detail and a view of the Taj Mahal. We had lunch at a roof top restaurant with a view of the Taj (you could even see it from the balcony level toilet!) and then headed off to the bus station. We are now in Jaipur, which is a fort city in western India. It is called the pink city because the city walls are a pinkish/peach color. We saw part of the Maharaja's palace this morning (he was in power until the 1970s). It is more deserty here and as we head further west we should get to even more desert like terrain. Over the next 6 days we have four nights scheduled to be on a train, one in the desert, and one in a hotel! So, lots of travel coming up.