Taj Mahal

Wow.

We got up in our hotel rooms at 5 am, rode electric buses through the early morning streets of Agra, walked the six blocks to the entrance, then waited in line for an hour or so because India is very serious about security, and all women had to undergo not only a very personal physical patdown, but a complete examination of the contents of each purse. It was just like with restrooms: the men's line zipped through, the women's line took forever.

But OK, so finally here we are, through the eastern gate into a pleasant garden, walking along worn paving stones to the center, then turning right, and...

There it was. Outlined in an interior gateway. Literally breath-taking. In the morning sun, it was a gentle golden color, perfect, seemingly feather-light, making me wish I had more eyes to see it with. I took photos, but they won't show you what I saw -- I have seen photos of the Taj taken by much more skilled photographers than me, and it's not the same.

We were squeezed between the lengthy security checks and the need to be on the road back to Delhi in time to catch our return flight to the ship in Mumbai. Our guides did their best to get us around and through the Taj quickly, reciting the information about the creation and history of the building, moving the 30 of us through the other crowds of tourists and vendors ("Please stay together and follow, we do not have a sufficiency of time.") as our arthritic knees and hips did their best with steep stairs and marble floors.

But what I really wanted was to find a place to sit and just look. I understand that in bright noon light, the Taj is almost blindingly white. And that it glows silver in moonlight. I would have had to sit there for a few weeks to get to a full moon, but heck, why not?