"A tear drop on the face of eternity"

Hello!!
Well I am on day three of my Indian love affair.
I LOVE India! I even loved Delhi!
I am traveling with a fabulous bunch of people and it is constant laughs.
Yesterday we checked out Old Delhi and some other sights. We fit four of us into a tuktuk and that was hilarious and sooo much fun! I am all over the indian clothing here and I have already bought myself an outfit.
Today was Agra. Agra is the city that is home to two of India's finest treasures- the Red Fort, and the Taj Mahal.
Both were amazing. Of course the Taj is what we all focused on, but the Red Fort is stunning. I am sorry I could not put up more pictures but the computer I am on is rather slow.
We had a guide for the Red Fort and my mind is bursting with details and history, but let me talk about the main attraction of the day.
How do I describe seeing the Taj Mahal?
It is everything it is supposed to be, and everything a monument to love should be.
It is stunning, it is impressive, it inspires all onlookers to be in awe of it and Shah Jahan (the Shah that built it as a mausoleum for his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal). The marble sparkles in the sun. The carving are delicate. The structure daunting.
Besides the physical structure of the mausoleum and its symbolism, the life around it is amazing. Indian tourist are far and above the most dominant and the colours of the women's saris are amazing! The men however look very drab in comparison.

I spent a few hours there soaking it all in.
I was pulled into a number of photos. Lets get the white girl dressed up in Indian cloths! I did not feel comfortable with all the men wanting to get their picture taken with me so I politely refused them, but I had no problem with children and families. oh the children!

After we rather painfully pulled ourselves away from the Taj Mahal, we headed to a carpet factory. WOW! This "factory" actually is more of a carpet business that educates village women on who to knot carpets (the weaving is done by knotting), then provide them with a loom, patterns, and work. Each carpet takes months to make depending on the size, some can take over a year. Most of the time several people will work on one and it will still take months. These carpets use moreno wool from New Zealand and Australia, all their dyes are natural, as are all the steps of the process of which their are many! The carpets are woven, inspected, washed, carted, sheared (trimming the ends (top) to make it even), washed again (all natural protects and treatments), sheared again, inspected, washed again. It is phenomenal the amount of work and hard labour that goes into creating them! The price here is unbeatable! I am very tempted and if anyone reading this would like me to buy one of their behalf please send me an email and I will let you know about prices and designs. They are really amazing works of art!

Well that was today... not that it is over yet. Some friends and I are head to the roof of our hotel to finish off a bottle of wine.

I am very very happy.
I am finally here and I feel like I have been here before.
I am very comfortable in India.

All my love from the subcontinent.

Cheers,
Linden