Eileen At Taj Mahal

You're looking lovely in your Fab India salwar kameez, Eileen!

Can you believe it? I have been back from India for a month and I still am not finished documenting the trip! Well, I am down to the last two days! After that, I will try to focus on life in California. You know what's funny? Monaji has a post up about California right now while I am doing a post on Agra! Perhaps if she's missing India, she will enjoy these shots.

What a cool shot! Now, why didn't I take one like this?

Since Eileen and I only had two days in Delhi, and I had work to do, I really wanted her to get to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Afterall, she told me this trip to India was once in a lifetime for her. (We'll see about that, won't we?) So, I happened to know about this little tour bus that Eileen could take to Agra, but she had to get up at 6 am and be ready to go at 6:30, while I got to sleep in after a very long day of traveling from Goa to Bangalore and then to Delhi! Argh! Well, she did it, and I am not only so proud of her for going all the way to the Taj Mahal without me, but also for managing to take some pretty swell pictures!

I am not sure why, but both times I have been to the Taj Mahal, the grass was dry and brown and the sky was filthy. Well, what do you know, this time the grass was green and lush, and the sky blue!This time, though, the "swimming pool" was empty, but the hotel rooms were all finished.!
Jamal: [seeing the Taj Mahal] Is this heaven?
Salim: You're not dead Jamal.
Jamal: What is it? Some hotel?
Sorry, couldn't resist.

The Taj Mahal is made of marble and inlaid with jillions of semiprecious stones shells and whatnot.


It's so refreshing to go to India and see women dressed in beautiful colors instead of "neutrals" that Americans prefer.
The Yamuna River which runs behind the Taj Mahal.
While I bought Jaipuri bedspreads, a soorangi, and hung out with my pal Mubarik, Eileen had a great time seeing the Taj, along with three other tourists. I had a feeling she would curse me for sending her on an all day adventure like that, but what do you know, when after 10 pm I finally heard the knock on the hotel room door, there stood Eileen with a huge smile on her face. What a relief! So she told me all about her day, the three other people that were on the bus with her, the fabulous lunch that was part of the tour, and the marble inlay factory visit as well.
Here below are two stunning marble tabletops inlayed with semiprecious stones, shells and whatnot.Also part of the day was visiting Red Fort, I'm saving that for next time.
By the way, what is the dang deal anyway with the new way blogger has for moving pictures around? I really dislike it. Does anyone know the secret to getting around this new move one speck at a time bs? Or, could it be that I have had to switch to Firefox because IE is laming out on me and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make a shortcut on my desktop for IE, nor can I even find IE even though I know it's here on my computer somewhere......


Good job, Eileen!
Have a lovely Monday!