Now I am in Agra and what I am really excited about is the Taj Mahal. I arrive in the afternoon and I asked my mother if we can see a show with Indian dancers in their amazing costumes and lots of jewelry and she asks someone from the hotel and we learn there is a show about the Taj Mahal. We go there that night. We got some medals from the show that said Taj Mahal and we got seated. There are special headphones so we can hear in English. I liked the show, it told me the story of the Taj Mahal. Now I will tell you the story and you can tell other people and we will keep passing it on and on and on. It all started when the Emperor Shah Jahan and a woman named Mumtaz both married each other when Mumtaz was about 20 and the Shah Jahan about 30. He cherished Mumtaz and wanted to give her everything she liked. Mumtaz had 14 children and got sick when she was having her 15th one. One of her kids went and told the Shah Jahan that she was dying and he was SO sad. Before she died she asked for 3 things from the Emperor Shah Jahan. He listened very closely. She said, I want you to do 3 things. Love and take care of my children, don't marry anyone else, remember me forever. He was SO sad that his hair turned gray overnight. He didn't feel like doing his job anymore so made other people in charge of the kingdom and worked only on building an amazing tomb masterpiece for Mumtaz. It took around 22 years to build it. While he was working on it his 3rd oldest son killed his older 2 brothers then had the Shah Jahan arrested. He was in captured and not allowed to leave the palace until he died in his 70s. He wanted to build a black Taj Mahal to use as his own tomb right across the river from Mumtaz but he never did because he was arrested. Today not only Mumtaz is buried in the Taj Mahal but Shah Jahan is also because he never built that black Taj and everyone knew he loved Mumtaz som much that he would be happy there. They bury Muslim people making sure their feet are not facing Mecca but their face is which means it is usually turned so it can. Mecca is a very holy place for them. The Taj Mahal is made of white marble that is almost see through in the light. Some places are decorared with flowers and prayers. When they want to make flowers and decorations they carve out the exact shape in the top of the marble then make a colored stone that can fit in the hole. It is all very exact and precise. We had some traditional Indian clothes made here so we could cover up for respect to religions and we wouldn't get sun burned and no bugs would bite us. We are going to be in holy places and the desert for a while now so we will sure use them. The traditional Indian outfit is long sleeve in arms and long pants but it is made of cotton so you keep cool. The wrapped robes are called saris, the long dresses are called pavada, the pants and long top with a slit on the sides (like I got) is called salwar kameez.