agra.

Um, I have ALWAYS wanted to ride an elephant and NOW I have! We went down town in Agra and had a quick ride on the back of an elephant. It was a little scary and also sad to see the driver poke the elephants ears to death in order to get him to cooperate. but it was a fun experience to have in INDIA.

We paid a visit to the marble factory in Agra. It was neat to go there after the Taj Mahal and see how the marble is made and then used to construct such features.



One of the girls in our group, Katie, bought a whole bunch of BINDI'S, the lovely dot the women of India wear in the middle of their forehead. We all wore them around for the day, another attempt to embrace the culture that so heavily influences this magnificent country.

We were able to spend a few quick hours shopping @ a market. The best purchase I made was some incredible Indian fabric I found to cut and piece together into a patchwork quilt. It is one of my New Year's resolutions to make a quilt so I am hoping this will give me heightened desire to accomplish this goal. It is SO beautiful! Also, Chelsea and I got HENNA tattoos from some guys on the street.


Our NEXT adventure was a visit to the AGRA FORT. It is the most important fort in India. The great Mughals Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb lived here, and the country was governed from here. It contained the largest state treasury and mint. It was visited by foreign ambassadors, travellers and the highest dignitaries who participated in the making of history in India. Our group had a bit of a bad attitude about being there... it was hot and long and we had other things we preferred to be doing but Nitn, our lovely tour guide, insisted we visit this site. It really was fascinating to see.

This is the bathtub used by the 500 concubines who lived at the AGRA FORT. This is Chelsea and I trying to get creative with our photos... we are washing our hair in the bathtub...


Sadly this closes my adventures in AGRA, INDIA. We got back on the bus to head for the airport. 6 hours later we pulled into the Delhi airport, prepared for the long hours of travel ahead.