Living in the Now: First Class trip to the Taj Mahal

Waking up at 5am almost made everything seem not worth it; however, after today's adventures I am so greatful that I did get out of bed. We headed to the cafeteria around 5:30am to grab some breakfast before today's adventures. We caught our usual buses from the Village and 30 minutes later arrived at the Railway station of Delhi. A two and a half hour, first class train ride on the "Taj-Commonwealth Express Train" was an exclusive ride for Commonwealth Games athletes, staff and delegates. The train itself was fantastic with a lot of leg room and not one but two meals. We had a breakfast and shortly after a hot lunch complete with full beverages and tea to finish.

Following the train ride it was about 25 minutes to drive to the Taj Mahal park, I guess you could call it. There, plenty of golf carts were ready to transport us right to the entrance of the park. There were quite a few buses of CWG people that were visiting the Taj Mahal but we were very lucky to be in the first bus and get through everything first. Security was interesting as we weren't allowed to bring food in and they looked through all of our stuff. Once inside the main gates it was like heaven. The architecture, colours and structures were so amazing to look at and I was going crazy with my camera, obviously.

Walking through the first gates to get our first look at the Taj Mahal was unreal. It definitely looks like a painting. The weather was fantastic, too. We had blue skies and I was sweating through everything that I was wearing. Thankfully, they gave us water everywhere we went. We got a VIP access to the Taj Mahal because only our CWG buses of people were touring from the entrance to and through the whole park and it wasn't until we reached the beginning again did I see other tourists being let inside. So, we were very lucky to get our own not-rushed tour, complete with a tour guide, of the Taj Mahal - inside and out.

I took a tonne of photos and really examined a lot of the architecture. Following the visit, the golf carts took us to this market area that was almost only designated for us. We were greeted with hand wipes and then fresh drinks of any kind that we wanted. The market was your typical one where it was hard to walk down the aisles without: "Ma'am, Ma'am, don't have to buy - just come look" ... "Ma'am, please, walk through my shop..." and it goes on.

I bought a few souvenires for some folks back home and then we were on our way. Back on to our amazing air conditioned buses and to the 5-star hotel we went. There we were immediately greeted by women in beautiful sari's and they put the little "dot" on our foreheads. I'm not sure what they are called. We had, again, hand wipes and then further down the hallway fresh, cold drinks and further down the hallway photo opportunities with these women dressed in peacock outfits.

Lunch was ready for us in a huge banquet hall. It was a fancy, gourmet buffet full of lots of great food. We had great service with fresh, fresh nan bread which really made that meal. They had live entertainment for over an hour and some girl was balancing like 6 pots on her head while dancing. After our meals it was bus ride to the train, 2.5 hour train ride with our awesome service and meals and then 30 minute bus ride back to the village and alas, here I am.

There are so many photos I don't even know how to handle posting them but I'll post a few of my favourites from the day. Check 'em out.

Me in front of the Taj Mahal - looking like it was photoshopped

Anna and I practicing our dancer's pose

Actually touching the Taj Mahal - note the shoe covers

Zee and I getting pretty good at Dancer's pose on the balcony of the Taj

Oh, I forgot to mention that last night I got to meet Alexander Despatie (the Canadian Diver who has set multiple Canadian records and just surpassed the record for most number of CWG gold medals won). Also, made friends with Alex Orlando, who in 2006 won 6 gold medals at ONE commonwealth games in Rhythmic Gymnastics. Oddly we have the same birthday (day month and year) and also the same first name! Anyway, it was an honour to meet Despatie and great to have made a new friend.