Morning after the Taj

Inside the Taj are replicas of the King and Queen's tombs which are actually under the floor. The stone work there was unbelievable. We learned a lot about the process of how they inlay the semi-precious stones into the white marble by hand. They still practice this art here. We visited a place where the "direct decendents" of the people who worked on the Taj are still practicing the craft. Each flower petal is made of multiple pieces of stone, all hand carved and grinded on a wheel. The red is carnelion, there's also lapis, malachite, jade and agate. The flowers adorn the building inside and out and add such a delicate, feminine touch to this stone building. The king really loved his queen.

The view up...

Good morning! We woke up to loud prayerful songs...there must be a Mosque nearby. It started at 5am. Nice to wake up to people worshiping. We have a long car ride today back to Delhi...making some stops along the way. We fly to Cochin tomorrow and start the tour of the South. We are healthy and traveling well. It's a blessing to travel with Chandru....he knows the language, what to expect, plus, we missed him the last couple weeks, so it's nice to be all together!