Agra - the Taj Mahal preview

Our tour of the Taj Mahal actually began the day before we got there. Across the river from the Taj is a beautiful garden called the Mehtab Bagh, and the views from it are spectacular. The garden itself is also stunning. As we have commented before, it was hot in India (averaging around 111 degrees every day) so most of the landscape was brown. We were there just about a month before the rainy season started, and we could really tell that it was getting late in the summer season.In any case, the garden was spectacular and we probably spent more time there than our driver expected, because we didn't simply walk down to the river to snap a photo and then return. We wandered the gardens for a while and even sat to talk and enjoy the scenery.

One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip is below. I set our camera up to take a timed photo, and then ran as fast as I could to get to where Erin was standing so that we could be in the shot together. As you can see, I didn't quite make it. The good one is at the top of this post.

At the end of the day, we had dinner on the roof of a local restaurant which had a view of the Taj. It was stunning - not the dinner, the view. In the evening, lots of folks head to their rooftops, because the breeze passes through and cools things off nicely. In the photo, you can see some kids playing and trying to fly kites from their perch.