Taj Mahal

My first of the seven wonders of the world.  Yesterday I have the opportunity to visit the Taj Mahal.  It is definately a pretty cool place.  For all you math nerds like me out there, the Taj Mahal is supposed to be the most geometrically perfect building in the world.  They say if you cut it in half you will have a complete and perfect mirror image on the other side.  Some of you may be asking yourselves now if I look at it from here it looks like those four towers on the corners are leaning.  You would be right.  Each of them is leaning away from the Taj Mahal, India sits on a major fault and in the case of an earthquake and the towers were to fall they would fall away from the main building.  Forward thinkers. 

Couple of notes about the Taj Mahal for all you tourists.  The Taj Mahal is located about a 4 hours drive from Delhi in the city of Agra.  When you get there, you will be discriminated against.  I went with Vishal, an Indian national, whom you have met in previous posts.  The cost of entry is 750 ruppees, now that equates to about $13.00 US.  However for Vishal it cost 20 ruppees, that is about 40 cents US.  The second thing you should excpect is to remove your shoes.  Before you enter the court of the Taj Mahal you must remove your shoes.  I am glad I wore socks that day.  The Taj Mahal is the tomb of a Muslim and it is custom to remove your shoes.  What you don't see in the pictures above is off to the left there is a mosque.

I am here standing in a mosque.  At what is considered a holy place about 40km outside of Agra.  Muslim culture requires again that you remove your shoes, but further you cannot show your knees or legs.  So before I could enter they made me put on a dress and house slippers.  My choices were red or red so I chose red. The window I am standing infront of is made from a solid piece of marble.  It was carved by a craftsman.  From the inside looking out you can see what is outside.  From the outside looking in you can see nothing.  Pretty impressive workmanship, the reward for the craftsman that made this was he was set up for the rest of his life. They made sure he was taken care of.  There is one more thing they did not tell him when he took the job.  After he was finished they cut off his hands so that this art work could not be replicated anywhere in the world.