Read Your Indulgence

We awoke early after a full nights rest and embarked on a 4 hour car ride to Agra, to visit the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world.  We drove through countless villages where the streets were packed with merchants, goats and manmade fires.  People fixing cars, selling food and doing everything in between.  Cows roamed the streets, wild dogs played and fought, female workers dressed in colorful Sarees fixing up the roads.  We had a burning desire for McDonalds.  Indian food is delicious, but as every traveler knows, you crave what is familiar to you when traveling in a foreign land.  We stopped and I bought lunch for our excellent driver, Altaf and our new guide, Shiv, aka “Lovey”.  Four men eating McDonalds in India—a bonding moment.  By the way, no beef burgers in McDonalds or anywhere for that matter in India, as the cow is holy.   

Later that afternoon, we checked into the most beautiful property, The Oberoi Amarvillas where every room has a view of the stunning Taj Mahal.  As we were teased from a distance, we all met in the high-style-deco lobby and hopped in a golf car which brought us right to the entrance.  The structure was beautiful—almost unreal.  To be honest, it looked better from a far.  Up close, it looked like slabs of marble, and it lost the novelty for me.  Inside, people were pushing and it was crowded.  We then headed back to the hotel to enjoy the property.  We watched an Indian dance show with cocktails at sunset as the Taj Mahal played as our backyard of our palace hotel.