Road Rash and Radishes - by Carol

We started out this morning not at dawn as we had planned, but a little bit later to save us the 45 minute wait in line to enter the Taj Mahal at dawn. Instead we were able to walk right in, smell the frangipanni flowers, look through the mist and feel the warmth of the sun reflected off the white marble of the Taj. A lovely site and according to our guide the number one Wonder of the World thanks in large part to the 1.1 billion Indians voting on their cell phones for their "favorite" world wonder. Mike, Carol, Paul and I oohed and aahed over the inlay of semi precious stones in marble, and fought off the advances of "professional" photographers who did not seem to notice that Mike's camera was even more professional then theirs...
Then off to Fatre Sikre, a city of the same population as London that was built and lived in over a 14 year period only to be abandoned suddenly with no record of why, leaving it up to the imagination of historians. I took many photo's as "research" for my book club book "The Enchantress of Florence" by Salmon Rushdie that I am presenting this summer(highly recommended). The majority of the book takes place in this magical city. Carved sandstone walls, flower patterns in screens, of course some of the oohing was over the massive 6ft bees nests that had formed at the top of the mosque gate entrances. It was hot, hot, hot. But we found the city fascinating. Not to mention the incredibly poor roads that led to the city and out leaving us with a 7 hour drive back to Delhi.
Highlighting the drive back - a stop at the birthplace of Krishna thanks in large part to the adventurous nature of Carol Abodeely who said yes to almost all the drivers suggestions. We entered through a "Harvest Festival" experience of tall reeds and straw with stand up cut outs of Krishna and his parents and then moved on to swaying in a mass of worshipers in the temple as the crowd became overwhelmed at the appearance of a direct descendant of Krishna (at least that is what I think the guide said). Of course we were the only westerners to visit. Lots of flies. Lots of pilgrims. Lots of memories.
The road home was long and filled with near misses in the minibus, camels, dogs and people darting across the road. potholes and diversions b road crews. My favorite roadside spot though was the appearance of a Blue Bull and his "harem". These are native antelopes as large as horses, I have never seen anything like them anywhere in the world. The were a wild herd...