Jaipur- Mama.

In Jaipur, we arrived at our hotel which was actually originally a palace.

It was completely ridiculous, but had a nice view from the roof.

Look up, that's Christina from the salon of their room.

The Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds, has 953 niches and windows, so Pratap Singh's women could watch the parades in the street without being seen.

We were headed to the Amber Fort when we got sidetracked.

A baby elephant!

Feats of bravery were performed by all.

John received a wet present on his turn.

Elephants were excited, but my attention turned to the snake charmer.

He had extra recorders for us. Christina was quite good. I was laughing too much.

So to prove myself, I let this guy wrap a cobra around my shoulders.

And to really be daring I gave it a kiss. Uncle Brandon was not so pleased when he saw this and wondered if I thought this guy had insurance against cobra bites.

Up at Agra Fort, we had another touristy adventure when we rode elephants to the entrance of the fort.

A view from the inside.

Can you find Aunt Jenni?

In the next fort up, there was the world's largest cannon. I wish we'd gotten to see that.

The water palace.

While we were viewing the water palace, this man came in to set up shop for the day. That's balance.

Jantar Mantar is a collection of huge astronomical instruments built in the 1720s.

And you can still use them today.

Finally, we saw the City Palace, built for the Maharaja of Jaipur. (The royal family still lives there.)

The best part was the four gates that represented the four seasons through peacocks.

Agra> Jaipur- Mama.

Back on the bus, we left Agra.

These are Kos Minars- erected by the Mughals marking their royal route from Agra to Ajmer via Jaipur. Erected by Mughal emperors between 1556 to 1707 AD.

Countryside.

Fatehpur Sikri- or the Playboy Mansion of India.

We mostly heard stories about Emperor Akbar and his 3 wives and hundreds of concubines.

Amit knew all the good places to get pictures.

And of course there were guys jumping off 20 foot ledges into some gross looking water. That's worth a few rupees to me.

I liked this place because it had many ingenious ways of circulating water around the complex to help cool it down in the summer. Not bad for the mid-1500s.

Next, we made the slow trip to Jaipur. Slow because the highways were crowded and no one goes over 40 mph. These were brick kilns along the road where bricks are still made by hand. You'd see over 50 kilns at a time.

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If you could get on a car, you could ride. In addition to the 5 guys outside this truck, there had to be at least 15 more people inside.

Approaching Jaipur.

Agra Fort- Mama.

After the Taj, we headed over to Agra Fort.

It was best known for being the place where Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned by his son, because he wouldn't stop spending all of their money building huge, ridiculous buildings.

At least he had a good view.

Next up was Itmad-ud-Daula's Tomb (Mumtaz Mahal's grandpa).

This is considered the first draft of the Taj Mahal.

Finally, we visited the gardens across the river from the Taj. There is the foundations for another building there. And much controversy as to whether it was supposed to be a small outbuilding or a copy of the Taj, but in black.

Back at the hotel, the kitchen sent up a cake to the honeymooners.

So we staged a 4th wedding. Seriously, how many do these two get?

The not so tiny Taj- Mama.

We woke up in Delhi and took a train to Jaipur.

Most fancy places in India had a huge gate blocking the view, much like a veil covers a lady's face.

And what a lovely face.

Our tour guide, Amit, found the best bench in the place for goofy pictures.

Then he got us a spot on the Bill Clinton bench! (The Indians LOVE Bill Clinton.)

Nationals get very cheap admission into all national monument, but we foreigners had to pay extra (still only about $5). But we also got to bypass the line of people walking up from the side and we walked stright up the front steps.

What's so incredible is that after 350 years the marble has been worn so smooth it literally glares.

We spent time exploring on our own, then the gang regrouped.

Aunt Jenni looks pretty low. Time to get outside and down some Thums Up!

And buy tacky souvenirs. These little beauties set me back 80 rupees. For 12 of them! I was so pumped about them, I almost didn't even bargain with the guy trying to sell me 12 for 100 rupees. (That's about $2.25.)

Qutab Minar- Mama.

Qutab Minar may have been my favorite place in India.

The tallest minaret in India, its construction began in 1193 and was constructed without the use of mortar.

Pretty impressive.

Qutab Minar was constructed on a site of other ancient and medieval ruins of older cities. All of them beautifully intricate.

Our resident sketch artist took up her post while the rest of us wandered around.

I could have stayed at this place for days.

But the Americans started getting restless and posing for silly pictures, so we packed up to do what we did best.

Shopping. We spent the evening at Dilli Haat, an open air bazaar full of crafts and art. We nearly bought the place out.

Both Aunt Jenni and I came home with some new drawings for our walls.