After a restless night I got up a bit earlier than planned and was on the road by 5am, arriving at Delhi Station 45 minutes later. While I was trying to check the seating allocation a man said I needed to reconfirm and took me across the road to a ticket agent. In the end I realised it was a con and refused to pay, but it wasted 5 minutes.
I had an executive class seat in the middle of the carriage with a fixed table rather than the fold downs. We had water, tea and breakfast served and arrived about 8. The driver was waiting and we were soon at the hotel. The Mughal Sheraton is a resort style hotel with lovely grounds, lots of marble and a lookout to see the Taj.
I arrange a car and driver for the whole day and a guide for the morning and left about 10-30. First stop was naturally the Taj Mahal. No cars are allowed close to the complex so you make you way from the car park on electric buses and you can’t take food or electronics (other than a camera) inside. When I went to Stonehenge I was disappointed to find it was smaller than expected. The opposite was true here, it is much bigger, nearly 250ft high. The whole complex is impressive with sandstone entrance courtyard and large gardens as well as the tomb itself. The building is symmetric on is 4 faces and there is a Mosque to the left, facing West and an identical building on the right, which is not a mosque since it does not face West. The inlay work in the marble is exquisite as are the carvings.
We then went to a craft centre and shop. The descendants of the 300 families that built the Taj (in the 1600s) still practice their family business today, handing down the techniques and patterns and keeping their family secrets, especially the glue they use. The flower patterns are made up of such tiny pieces that must fit together and into the recess dug into the marble. A lot of work for sure, but their prices were a bit much for me.
Next stop was the Agra Fort, which was the palace of the 3rd Mughal emperor, Akbar and predates the Taj. It is a vast complex of buildings with halls, rooms, theatres and so forth. It is made of red sandstone and sits along side the river.
After this we went back to the hotel for lunch, a swim and even a brief nap by the pool. It was very hot and humid. About 3-30 we headed off to Sikandra, which is the tomb of Akbar and his wives – he had 3, a Muslim, a Hindu and a Christian. Again we have a large sandstone building in extensive grounds with 4 elaborate gates. A little man attached himself to me as a guide and I paid him a trifling amount at the end.
The final monument for the day was Itmad-ud-Dalahs tomb. This one was again in marble with 4 sandstone gates. Not as big as the others but still very ornate and impressive.
By this time I was "tombed out" and the driver took me to the shops. I bough some Star of India earrings and a coaster of inlaid marble at the first one. No doubt he got a commission for bringing me there. We then went to the Sadar bazaar, where I tried again unsuccessfully to find something for the hockey team. I did buy a Star of India pendant to match the earrings.
By the time I got back to the hotel is was getting on to 8pm. After a long soak in a bubble bath I had the buffet dinner, which I found a bit disappointing, and had a relatively early night.
On Sunday I awoke to find it was raining. The overdue monsoons had finally arrived. I had a big breakfast from the buffet and was thinking about my ticket. Much panic when I couldn’t find it, even after emptying the packback, handbag and wallet, and checking all the drawers etc. I repacked and went to the travel desk to try and get another one. Back to the room, one last check of the back pack reveals yet another pocket and there they were. Much relief.
I checked out of the room at noon and after a toasted sandwich in the bar headed off to Fatehpur Sikri, about 40km away. The first challenge was actually getting there. The first road we tried was so flooded the driver turned around to try a different way. The police had blocked off the other way so we tried again. The small car in front, about the same size as ours, had its exhaust pipe under water some of the time so I guess we did too. Eventually, we got past the flooded area and I notice we had driven several km the wrong way down a 1 way street (along with a host of other cars, trucks and bikes). Once out of the city there were no problems.
We picked up a guide near the site, who spoke reasonable English and knew his stuff, even if it may have been by rote. F.S. was built by the same Akbar as his second palace after a holy man had blessed him and he had a son. The royal family only live there 4 years before the water supply problem sent them back to Agra, which stands on a river. Again we have a vast complex in Red sandstone with public and private meeting areas, rooms for the wives and concubines and entertainment areas, including a giant Ludo board, which used young maidens as playing pieces. At this stage my camera battery ran out. I later saw I’d taken about 230 shots including several movies. 
Attached to the place is a mosque complex, which houses the tomb of the holy man. This is a marble building and the tomb itself is decorated in inlaid mother of pearl.
I was then hassled by people selling crafts, postcards, etc. There weren’t many tourists that day so they all seemed to descend on me. In the end I bough a small marble and inlay jewel box, some silver bracelets – 6 for $3 and 4 necklaces for $12.
On the way back I returned to the jewellers in Sadar Bazar and bough a star of India bracelet and a star sapphire pendant. I returned briefly to the hotel to clean up and then headed to the railway station. The 45 minute wait was extended since the train was 30 minutes late and after being directed to the opposite end of the station by some railway police I found a seat. About 2 minutes before the train arrive a pigeon did its droppings on my trousers. I was still washing it off when the train arrived.
The seats weren’t quite as comfortable on the return journey in Chair class and no food was served although you could buy stuff, but it was still airconditioned and only half the price. The journey was also longer but we arrived on time at Delhi. I then faced the daunting task of finding my driver. In the end it turned out to be relatively easy since he was wearing a uniform. We had a slight wait till a Cairn trainee found us as well, since he’d gone to the wrong side of the station. We’d seen each other on the train, but didn’t know each other. He’d done the weekend via a backpacker’s hotel and the mini taxis.
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