The Taj Mahal

Shortly after sunrise Sunday morning I found myself standing in awe in front of the Taj Mahal. I wanted to pinch myself; it just didn't seem real. Was I really there, looking at a place that always before has been more a picture in my mind than a real building? How could it possibly be true that a mausoleum built in the 1600s could be so geometrically precise? That the building itself, glowing in white marble, could look the same no matter which side you view it from, with nine arches? That when you walk to the back of the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal you get a clear straight line view all the way to the entrance gate? (Although that is that false tomb, as the real tomb is underneath the main chamber floor and was reserved for access by the royal family only.) That the symmetry only seems to double when you see the reflection in the ponds of the garden? It really is an amazing feat of architecture, a true wonder of the world. and a fitting testament to a deathbed promise by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to his third wife. The only mar to the perfect symmetry (so thought out that the minarets are actually at an angle so that all four can be viewed no matter which side you are looking from) is the addition of Shah Jahan's tomb beside his wife's. The second massive mausoleum he had planned for himself never being finished beyond a wall. I must say I now understand why this is sometimes considered one of the seven wonders of the world. It truly is an amazing sight.