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Earliest start so far in order to experience the Taj Mahal at sunrise. The Oberoi is only 2 mins away by golf buggy so we were easily at the gates by 6.15 and inside well before sun-up at about 6.45.
Best time of day to go since the gradual "warming - up" of the scene in terms of colour unfolded very gradually over about an hour and by 8am the Taj was showing off its full bright white glare in the sunshine.
Our guide turned out to be a very enthusiastic photographer and kept grabbing the camera at all the right moments including the famous Diana seat. Needless to say we were both very impressed with this "wonder of the world". The architecture is perfect and the building is just extremely well balanced and symmetrical not only in its own dimensions but also in the general setting and in the context of the adjoining buildings and river at the rear.
The view from across the river we have seen on several photos so after returning to the hotel for breakfast we set off again with car driver and guide to find the gardens where we could see the Taj from across the river. This involved going across the most amazingly awful bridge with essentially only one track but a good cross section of Indian life trying to cross in both ways at the same time. Included in the traffic were dhobi wallahs throwing huge bundles of clothes down to colleagues who were busy doing the washing on the mudbanks of the river below and then drying the very colourful saris etc in the sun - a very strange scene all round and the whole thing just so typically Indian.
Other sightseeing at the Baby Taj and Agra fort was finished by lunchtime to enable us to chill out at the pool for the whole afternoon.
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