With love from E&A: July 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Jaipur

I spent my last day in India in Jaipur.

It was quite an adventure.

I spent less than 24 hours there but don't let that fool you....I saw SO much!

My first stop was this ancient observatory.

There were twelve of these devises set up in the direction of each zodiac constellation

There was even one huge staircase leading up to the north star.

My next stop was the Amber fort and palace.

It was absolutely stunning...and huge!

You can ride elephants to get to the top....

but I was too cheap to do it and I figured I'd already ridden one so I would tough it out and hike to the top.

Yeah...that was the worst idea EVER.

It was about 100 degrees and 90% humidity.

I was really wishing I had ridden that elephant by the time I finally reached the top!

These are some ruins at the top

The city is about 1000 years old...

Yeah you read that right

1000 YEARS OLD!

The rest of the palace was intact...and beautiful

I had to sneak into a restricted area to get this shot...

This is the city...and those elephants I wish I had ridden.

This was the mirror rooms in the palace.

It's hard to tell from the picture but the walls and ceiling were completely covered in mirror mosaics

It sparkled!

The hillsides surrounding the palace had a wall that I suppose was used for protection back in the day

It reminded me of the Great Wall of China.

The courtyard gardens.

I absolutely love elephants...as you know-

This man was kind enough to let me pet his elephant.

Then he wanted money for it.

I told him no because that elephant deserved to be pet.

Some wildlife along the way...

The water temple

Unfortunately, I didn't get more of a back story on this temple.

More mausoleums

Jaipur is famous for their block hand printed materials.

I went to a place where they showed me how it's done- and I even got to make my own

Then it was off to the monkey temples in the canyon

Lots and lots of monkeys

Spot the monkeys :)

There was a waterfall coming out of the canyon that filled these pools.

Apparently, it was holy to bathe in these pools-

I didn't post any revealing pictures, but let me tell you- I saw a LOT more body parts than I wanted to.

This fun couple really wanted their picture taken- cute huh?

After touring all day I went straight to the airport and flew back to Delhi.

From Delhi I flew to Chicago.

15 hours.

I'll spare you the details. But I'm sure you can imagine how horrible it was.

From Chicago I flew to Salt Lake City.

HOME SWEET HOME!

My mom and brother were there to greet me- my brother even made me a welcome home sign!

It's good to be back :)

With love,

P.S. I'm flying out to to Hawaii with my whole family tomorrow- ALOHA!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Now that I am home my family, friends, and fiance take up aton of my time!
Pooooooooooorr me! (I say this VERY sarcastically)
Anyway! I have been working on wedding stuff!
AND I got a wedding planner!!
I'll show you how I found her...
I fell in love with this here wedding...

When I saw this I thought...
Yes.
Yes please.
Yes PRETTY please.
Can that wedding planner do MINE!?
Turns out she can.
Now who is excited?!
Don't lie.

With Love,
E

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The TAJ!

I couldn't leave India without seeing the Taj Mahal now could I?!

I took a 4 hour car ride out from Deli to Arga to see the Taj and I have to say it was one of the coolest experiences I've had while in India.

First, I went here to Sinkandra, the Mausoleum of Akbar

Built in the 1600s- Akbar designed it for himself before he died.

He wanted to make sure people remembered him...

And how could you not remember him?

Just look at the tile work on this building- each color is a different stone

Now on to what is often considered one of the greatest wonders of the world!

Here is the main gate to get into the Taj- there are 22 domes on top of the gate-

one for every year it took to built it.

Now there are a lot of pictures on here of one building, but it's honestly one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen in my life!

The Taj was built around a love story

Emperor Shah Jahan built this mausoleum for his third wife Mutaz Mahal.

They were married 19 years and had 14 children together

She died giving birth to their last child and he loved her so much he never married again.

He built the Taj to show his love for her.

He described the Taj like this:

Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator's glory.

Behind the Taj there is a river.

No buildings are allowed to be built behind the Taj to obstruct the view

300 year old trees

The emperor was planning on building a mausoleum for himself across the river out of black stone that mirrored the Taj,

but his son (who had become the emperor at this point) thought his dad was spending too much money

and banished him to Agra Fort

The designs look painted- but each flower is made of different stones

The writing is the five prayers of Islam- all written using black onyx

So there are a few funny things about these pictures:

1. My guide LOVED to take pictures- this was great because I was alone and wanted to be in a least a few pictures. Problem was- he LOVED to take pictures that he posed me for.

Therefore, I have a MILLION pictures of me in slightly awkward poses

Soo artsy- don't you think?

2. Also, I had to wear those lovely covers over my shoes while there so that's why my feet look funny