A sunrise visit to the Taj Mahal and our return to New Delhi

We were up at 5:30 AM Thursday morning to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. I love photos at dawn and dusk – it’s magic time for good lighting. However, at 5:30 AM, I was feeling maybe it was a little too early. I stepped out of the room to talk to Nums, and watched 4 people leave their rooms and head out, all dressed up.

Wait, other people are also doing this sunrise thing too? Oh man, we gotta get a move on! We quickly dressed up and met our tour guide in the hotel lobby. We took the van to the Taj Majal West Gate entrance, and walked the long walk to the ticket booth / entrance area. There is high security at the Taj Mahal, and no bags, tripods, banners, drones, advertisements, etc, are allowed. You bring a cell phone, wallet, camera in hand, purse, etc.

The walk was pretty gross — manure from cows, dogs, and monkeys was everywhere. Lily called it a minefield. Once we got there, there were lots of people there. I can only imagine how crowded it is like during the day. It was a beautiful sight in the morning light.

We came back to the hotel, had breakfast, then gathered our belongings in order to check out of the hotel. The drive back to New Delhi was uneventful with some traffic around the outskirts of New Delhi. We arrived back at Aerocity and the Pride Plaza hotel. We grabbed a very late lunch around 3 PM at a hotel cafe nearby. In the evening, I took the kids to the pool one last time for an hour.

For our last dinner in New Delhi, we walked over to Plum Cafe. It’s an interesting spot that serves small plate meals — kinda like tapas? The restaurant is filled with eclectic furniture and home decor that is also for sale. That’s right — if you like the chair, couch, table, or other art piece, you can buy it. How unique. The food was good too.

Friday would be our last day in India. We planned to check out of the hotel in the morning after breakfast, have full day of sightseeing in Old Delhi planned, then we head straight to the Indira Gandhi airport around 5 PM.

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