Last week, we flew north to a homeschool conference outside of Delhi. The conference was great. We met a lot of friends, learned some good stuff, Cora took her exams, and they even had a big field (with grass!) that the kids could play football (soccer) in. Delhi was very dry and dusty, the dust covering everything to the point that the whole world looked almost black and white. The only refreshing site was the mustard fields, a sea of yellow and green against the drap backdrop. We took a bus from the airport to the conference center in Rajasthan, which should have taken 2 hours. After 4 hours and many wrong turns, we arrived. One of the wrong turns led us down a dirt road that got bumpier and bumpier as we went until it was almost impassable. We saw bullock carts, camel carts, donkey carts, horse carts, and herds of goats. Finally, when we approached a 5 foot deep trench across the road that really was impassable, the driver decided he "probably" took a wrong turn! You never know in India. The nicest hotel really could be down a road like that.
On Saturday after the conference, we took another bus to the Taj Mahal. It took us a total of 11 hours on a bus only to be at the Taj for 3 hours, but it was worth it. The place is amazing. The marble has such a high percentage of crystal that the whole building seems to glow. The colored designs are all precious stones from around the world that have been inlaid. The pictures won't do it justice, but here they are anyway:
On Saturday after the conference, we took another bus to the Taj Mahal. It took us a total of 11 hours on a bus only to be at the Taj for 3 hours, but it was worth it. The place is amazing. The marble has such a high percentage of crystal that the whole building seems to glow. The colored designs are all precious stones from around the world that have been inlaid. The pictures won't do it justice, but here they are anyway:
Delhi was a lot colder than we were prepared for, since we live in the tropics now and own very few cold weather clothes. We had to go out and by Evie's first footy-pajamas.
Cora dressed as Naya Nuki for a Character dinner at the conference. Umah hand-stiched this for her while she was here.
The Red Fort, across from the Taj Mahal. We didn't get to tour it because it was under renovation.
Pretty fancy for a tomb, huh? The inside is totally empty except for 2 marble caskets.
One of the three entrance gates. Each gate was built for a different wife. The more he liked the wife, the bigger and fancier the gate was.
The colored design is all precious stones, and the black is an arabic prayer. Each side of the Taj Mahal is identical except for the prayers.
The hand-carved marble and inlaid stones.
A boat on the Yamuna river, just next to the Taj.
The wall around the Taj. Evie finally slept after crying almost the entire time we were there. She wasn't so impressed by the whole thing. But we have pictures to say she was there!
This camel cart was for the tourists, but we saw others just like it hauling produce, rebar, bricks, just about anything.
