After a very tearful goodbye, we left Rising Star and went north. It was pretty hard to leave behind all those children and the memories that will forever be with us! We finally had to just want away--it was too hard to leave. They made posters for us, gave us gifts and wrote lots of notes. We still can't believe all that they did to make "us" feel loved--we hope we made them feel the same!
This is a pix of our little "house family" that we got to be with each night. We love them!
Onto Delhi:
The morning that we went to the Taj Mahal was a bit crazy. Our group had to wake up at 6 to go get inline just so we could see it. The night before, we didn't get in until after midnight.…but it was still worth it! We get in the line, which by the way was separated by gender for some odd reason, and after a wait--we finally get through the gates.
I didn't know this before, but the Taj Mahal is actually a burial site. It is for the king's third wife--wouldn't you be bummed to the first or second wife and not get a Taj out of the deal! The grounds include a palace, the Taj, guest house, gardens, etc. Oh my gosh, it was so dang stunning. There are no words to describe how beautiful it is. It was so majestic. If you ever get the chance to see it, don’t miss your opportunity because it truly is astounding!
We took tons of picturesbecause it’s the TAJ MAHAL! When are we ever going to be back there again?? We took tons of free falling pictures which turned out pretty cool. You would think they were photo shopped but they weren’t.
Our tour guide was great. He was quite the expert abouteverything. This is what we learned fromour great guide before we got to inside: The Taj Mahal is made of the best marble in the world. It is number one on the list of types of marbles. Everything about the Taj is symmetrical--literally everything. If you stand on any of the four sides--it looks exactly the same. When they built it, they built the foundation on wood… I know right?? But apparently it’s true. Google it. The king imported slaves from Turkey to man the work. There was something like 20,000 slaves working on it over the years. The guy who designed it was also a slave. When he got his job to design it the king told him he had 21 years to build it. And he did. He built it in 21 years!! Then he was killed because the king didn't want him to duplicate it! At the time of the construction, it cost approximately $1,062,834,098 to build--but that doesn't take into account the cost of any materials that they had access to in India or several other hidden factors. It is listed as one of the New Modern Wonders of the World.
Interesting things to know: They clean the exterior every couple years. Theycovered the whole Taj during a war with a black sheet so the planes and satellitescouldn’t spot it to destroy it. If you look at it at this certain angle it looks like the Taj is made of diamonds. It glitters in the sunlight! There are so many other facts but I think that covers some of the basics.
After were done with our sexy model photoshoot and our school lesson we head over to go inside. We had to wear foot coverings to preserve the marble. Even inside it was so beautiful. Everything was a work ofart. It would surprise you that this could all be done in 21 years. It was so detailed and ornate. After walking around we go to the back side and walk around. It was truly beautiful. After we are done admiring wehead off and walk back. Every time I looked back I was just astounded by its beauty. I hope one day you all get to go see the majestic and truly grand Taj Mahal.
Jillian
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