The Taj Mahal at sunrise and onto Gwalior

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The alarm call came through at 5am.The plan is to meet our guide for The Taj Mahal around 535am spend 2 hours there, back to hotel for breakfast and off to Gwalior at 11am.
The Taj is incredible. ..around 40 to 50000 people visit everyday and we were in the first 50 to go through the strict security entry. A great time of the day to go as cooler and less people. As our guide explained the whole thing is not just about the building but the love story behind it. It was built by a Mughal king for his young wife who died after bearing their 14th child. However the building is incredible ..beautiful translucent but non porous marble it has never been cleaned is full of inlaid precious and semi precious stones. In the dawn it can be pink , during the day white, and under a full moon it can appear blue.
After breakfast on the road to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh so leaving Utta Pradesh, crossing a corner of Rajasthan and arriving in Gwalior Madhya Pradesh. Our driver needs to pay for his car going into any state other than Rajasthan where the car is registered. We stop for lunch at a place that looked reasonable but turned out to be really basic. However food was great vegetarian and Raj paid for it. No ill effects yet. We think we are becoming quite hardened (stomach wise) but will only drink bottled water and will still be careful.
We meet with a local guide and go to see the City Palace which was built in the 19th Century and the Maharajah and family still live there in part of the palace.They are still known by the title but now don't have all the riches they used to have....the current ones father was killed in a helicopter crash in 2004 and he was a much loved member of the Indian parliament.
We are in our hotel and are really quite tired...a lot of time in the car. Probably will not take up the services of guides for next few days....
Just had "tea on the lawn" ....very pukka. ...and resting up before dinner.
Only 3 days before we loose the services of Mr. Raj Kumar Sharma, our driver. We have become "family" and it will be a sad goodbye. We hope to catch up with him and real family in Delhi at the end of our trip . We will have been together almost a month .....
We move on to Gwalior, Orccha, and finally Kharajaho before Varanasi.Kharajaho in particular had wonderful temples and we went to a great sound and light show which went through the history from 1021 until 1838 when they were discovered in the jungle much like Anghor War in Cambodia.
Now in Varanasi which means to the Hindus what Mecca does to Moslems. Boat ride at dawn on the Ganges is great but to be honest the filth etc is disturbing.
One more day in Varanasi before we fly to Mumbai.
We are staying in the tower part of the Taj Palace Hotel and decide to try for an upgrade to the palace wing. We send an email.
Next morning I call and they say it will probably happen but wait until we check in. We are quite prepared to pay the price difference which is about $250 for a club room.
Picked up at 1030 the next morning to go to airport.

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