Motherland Post #1: the taj mahal

day 2 in the motherland - first stop: New Delhi, the nation's capital. i have been here before during my last motherland visit, but it is the first visit for my mom so we headed out to agra yesterday to see the wonder that is the taj mahal. the building is very very impressive, seeing as it was built over the course of 22 years and has seen very little degradation in the past 400 years. what impresses me more than the structure itself is the story surrounding the building of the taj. shah jahan built the taj in memory of the favorite of his 2 wives to show his everlasting love and affection towards her - quite a commitment, if you ask me.

to be honest, i was convinced that i would have very few adventures during the motherland portion of this journey since i will be traveling with my mom - but i was mistaken. since the inside of the taj is a mosque, all visitors have to remove their footwear before entering. little did i realize that during the time i was admiring the splendor of the inside of the mosque, my reef flip flops were stolen! so there i was stuck walking back to the tour bus with barefeet in the blistering 103 degree heat. the bottoms of my feet do not look pretty. neither do the ugly replacement footwear i had to buy for the walk home...