On the way to Jaipur

 I know that I am a few days behind in my writing, but I wanted to have this portion documented in the blog. I am still on my trip from Agra to Jaipur.  Around 10am left for Agra fort. Already to hot during the day. Before we headed out of town we stopped at a place that cut the precious stone and marble as seen at the Taj.

Supposedly the Taj was built by Iranians as they were considered the greatest architecture.  They had some beautiful pieces, of course I had to get a souvenir.  I would loved  to have bought a marble table top, but it wouldn't really fit into my home decor. 



Agra fort was good, red sand stone and marble.  Quite a bit nicer than the Red Fort in Delhi. The king had three wives, a Muslim, christian and Hindu.  The fort had many symbols of the three religions.  Agra Fort was the home of the Mughal emperors for many generations. Each ruler added to the complex.  Shah Jehan, emperor who had the Taj Mahal built was imprisoned in Agra Fort.  His son, who put him in confinement must have had some sort of compassion as Shah Jehan was able to look out and see the Taj Mahal.  I have attached a picture of his prison accommodations.

                                                                           View from prison cell


                 Prison cell    

 After that we went to Fatehpur Sikri, another fort built and used by the Mughals.  At this time of day it was really hot - maybe 125.  The shade didn't even offer any relief.  By this time I felt the one fort was too much like the other so my interest level was fading or non existent.  Too much for one day. Drove to Jaipur, around 4 hours.  Jaipur is known for their textiles and jewelry.  Stopped at a gem place.  Had to splurge and bought tanzanite earrings.  I have been looking for some for a while and these seemed very reasonable for Tanzanite, and nice blue color.  Only got to hotel at 8pm, had dinner and bed.  Staying at the Fern.  Good spicy dinner .  Got up at 7, went swimming. Definitely not as nice as the Radisson and there were people in the pool, yuk!  I was spoiled at the other pool.