Agra

On March 8, I escorted some VIPs, their spouses, and their staff to Agra.  We visited the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. The former is absolutely stunning and well worth the three hour ride from Delhi by (hired) coach.

Not bad.

Since most of the week before the trip was consumed by staffing a different delegation, I had to plan it quickly.  Fortunately I had the help of a tourism company to take care of most of the logistics.  I wish I had thought of seeing the Taj at sunrise, but these people flew in from the U.S. the day before and then had a long day ahead of them; I didn't want them to burn out before the big dinner later that night.


Anyway, the Taj was great.  It's beautiful, majestic, and regal. As you can probably imagine, it was also expensive. It cost more than the equivalent of $3 million dollars in the late 16th century. Put another way, the Louisiana Purchase a century later cost $15 million.

After the Taj Mahal, we went to Agra Fort. 

The fort was very similar to the one I visited in Jaipur (the photos of which, were sadly lost when my phone was stolen in Haridwar).  Built of red sandstone by Persianified Turkic peoples, it is an immense structure with rooms for everything you can imagine, from harems to administrative offices.

The son of the man who built the Taj imprisoned his father for political reasons, but as a concession he was imprisoned in a room where he could always see his everlasting tribute to his late wife.  Here is his view:

Better than my View

That was something to keep in mind when thinking about how our government functions.