After breakfast, we caught the bus to Agra. The only free seats were on the back row, so we dragged ourselves and our bags and sat like sardines. An hour later, we arrived at friends paying guest house and were warmly greeted by Yusef. We were shown the rooftop terrace and saw our first view of the Taj. Needing to exchange travellers cheques, he said he could give us a lift to the forex. The lift was on his motorbike! Our first pillion ride, even if it was only 5 minutes haha. After forex, we went to visit two other travellers that had fallen I'll that Yusef had taken care of. They had been caught in the floods in Srinigar and were flown to Delhi because they had swallowed bacteria in the flood water. They were on a drip, and had been ill for 9 days - Yusef was helping them with their insurance and bringing them meals. After wishing them well, we caught a tuk-tuk to Agra fort. We toured round the buildings, which were almost duplicates of those in Delhi fort, and looked across the river to the Taj Mahal. We then paid an old man to take us in his electric tuk-tuk around three other sights. However, we were oblivious to the speed of his wheels. We could have crawled faster. On the way to the park, we had to hop out several times to push it up hills. Even the locals were amused. It did however provide a good opportunity to take photos of the local kids, who were unbelievably cute and waved enthusiastically as we passed by. At the park, we took a few photos of the Taj. There was an Indian couple who were the subject of a photoshoot. Aided by two men on their left and right, they threw rose petals over the woman, whilst the couple looked at each other romantically. Their friends took photos to capture the magical moment. What people will do for a good photo... We then went to the 'baby Taj', a much smaller and slightly older version of the Taj, with intricate marble carvings. We were then planning to go to a Persian building, but the tuk-tuk man said it was not worth seeing, and that he could take us to the markets. Markets turned out to be shops where he gets commission for taking visitors. We had a nosey round, all of which sold the same old shawls, fake marble etc. The shop owners in India would be great assistances for the visually impaired, but for people who can see, is it really necessary to follow you around the shop telling you what each item is?! Can't I just browse at my own will?! So after disappointing our tuk-tuk driver by not buying anything, he decided to up his game, and took us to what could be THE most expensive shop in India, on a par with Harrod's. We were shown around the 24carrot gold wall hangings, the £10,000 marble statue, the £60 shawls which he suggested I bought a couple of for family (sorry in advance). It was quite amusing because we knew we could not afford anything in the shop. We made our excuses and left, walking back to our hotel (only a few minutes away) as we did not want to be whisked away to another shop. Back at the hotel we had a delicious lamb kashmiri, pulao and chapatis, graciously eating meat for the first time in several days. We got talking to a few other travellers who were also staying in the hotel and spent the rest of the evening sharing stories. With a pre-dawn start at the Taj Mahal set for the following day, we hit the sack at half 8. At half 5 we met Amanda, the girl we met the night before, and walked to the taj Mahal. After lining up in separate queues for men and women, and passing through security, we entered the grounds and saw a crowd of people taking photographs. We waited for our own small space in the crowd to get the classic taj Mahal shot. We then walked all the way around, admiring the marble inlay and carvings. From the photos you can't get the scale of the building, such a great effort and devotion of love for his wife. The lighting was great as well, the dawning sun reflecting the white marble. We then went for a walk around old Agra, and while there was nothing to do as such there, it was interesting to see the people going about their everyday lives - the behind the scenes of India that you don't get to appreciate at the tourist sights. The kids hang around in the streets, playing marbles, swingball with an empty water bottle, and running after you shouting hello, hello! Eventually we made it out of the maze of streets and went for breakfast.