So we go to see the Quwaat al-Islam first, it was something that I had wanted to see but was a little bit far from where we were and not the highest on the list of attractions when people go to Delhi.
It was so cool! It was much more interesting than I expected and we really enjoyed the structure. So the Quwaat al-Islam is the highest free-standing tower in India.
It is also a really important place in Islamic history in India. It was the capitol of the Mughals during the height of their power.
That is an iron pole in the middle of an old courtyard
The architecture was really intricate, well, what was left.
The tower itself:
See? The buildings were a bit decrepit...
But what did remain was still quite large. To give you a picture, going back to the arches from the first picture, I had Drew stand in one and I took a picture.
Huge. And then I walked through it and took a picture of the tower through it.
And of course one with me in front of it. (It took some maneuvering to get this shot...)
After looking at the main structure, we decided to explore a little bit more. It was neat seeing some old places where people had studied or where people went to pray.
A view of the walls and gardens.
It was also neat because there was a really well-preserved area that had a tomb and some really pretty structures. I took my favorite picture of the day at a spot where you could see the tower and the structures:
It was really cool to see how intricate all of the buildings were. It was also cool to see how well preserved they were. Obviously there was some restoration but at the same time these were built well and with care.
After browsing through here for about an hour we went to Humayun's Tomb.
Once you walk into the gates surrounding the enclosure, it's a little interesting. You can't see the tomb at first and you're confronted with some awesome gates.
Delhi has some awesome architecture
We walk through the gates and voila! The tomb!
It was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. You can see some of the similarities huh?
A little closer of a view.
We walked around a little bit and then we decided to go inside since it was 1 pm and getting super hot and muggy and we figured eh, maybe the tomb is a little bit cooler.
We went in and saw some cool arches. Also the cool thing about this structure is that it is all carved stone. So the really intricate screens are stone-usually marble. Can you imagine carving that? It would not be good if you messed up...
So we went and saw the tomb. It wasn't anything special. But it was still neat to think that it had been completed in 1571... oh only 440 years previously. It was also sweet because the tomb was commissioned by Humayun's wife.
It was relatively simple but still pretty.
So I love to explore and thankfully I have
A neat picture of the tomb, to help show the length.
It was a fun picture to take, I literally couldn't step back to get it all in one shot because there are pools of water around the tomb and there was one right there. :(
So we know that we've explored a lot when we get asked by a guard where we are going. I had seen a blue domed structure and wanted to see it and apparently it was just out of the grounds of the tomb structure. Bummer. But on the way back we got to take some cool pictures.
Hubby!
Me!
After this we went back to the hotel since a. we had wanted to see a shop nearby to look at rugs and b. we didn't want to spend too much money (end of trip... starting to go broke :P)
So we went back to our hotel (Hotel Le Roi - they pronounce it LEE Roy [southern way] awesome hotel btw) and on the way passed by the India Gate. It was quick but cool enough.
It was inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
After getting back we met back up with our driver from yesterday to take us to a shop that we had seen the day before but didn't have money. We saw some pretty Kashmiri rugs and wanted to get one.
Obviously we're poor and couldn't afford a whole one, but we got a small one and it's cute and we both really love it.
Ignore the stuff underneath it, I just took the picture when it was on our coffee table.
We decided to just relax in our hotel for a while since we didn't have enough time (or money) to see something else and we just wanted to chill. Our hotel was really nice.
The lobby
And it was cool to look up at the decorations on the ceiling.
Overall we were ready to get back to Atlanta Drew and I were on different flights (I left like 2 hours before him... and he got to fly on Lufthansa... lucky) and so that made things a little interesting at the airport. Advice to anyone who is taking an auto (as in a rickshaw) to the airport... get there early. You have to take a bus to the airport and also make sure to have your boarding pass printed since they don't even let you into the airport (where a lot of the kiosks are....) without seeing one. So that wasn't very fun but I had to leave Drew to find a printing place while I checked in. (He ended up being fine but still.... not comforting when I won't see him for the next 24ish hours).
I got on the plane and it was fun. I got a nice lady on the way to Chicago and we talked for an hour. I tried sleeping but that failed. Luckily by the time I got to Chicago I was tired enough that I could catch some sleep on my Chicago to Atlanta flight. Man, I was so tired of traveling at that point. I finally made it to Atlanta and was cheerfully picked up by my parents. Oi... I was tired though. That day I crashed before Drew even came home. (Again... his flight was later and he had a longer layover in Germany than I did in Chicago).
But we had a blast and we're so blessed to have been able to have this experience. It was phenomenal.
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