This one was completely blocked in by the cars:
To travel to Varanasi, we had to take an overnight train. Train travel is ubiquitous in India and notoriously off schedule. Luckily, our tour guides helped us navigate the train stations. We took a short train ride upon leaving Agra to get to Khajuraho and Orchha. The journey was 2.5 hours long, but the train was late by about the same time. On this train, each passenger in our class received a liter of bottled water and a meal. We were dreading the overnight train trip which was supposed to take 12 hours, because we did an 8 hour overnight train in Vietnam, so we knew it would be grueling. The train to Varanasi was mediocre at best, but we did OK for the first 10 hours. We stopped at a major station in the morning and more than 50% of the occupants disembarked. Things started to go south when we sat at that station for more than 2 hours with no explanation. The remainder of the trip involved traveling about 20 miles per hour for a 1/2 hour and then stopping on the tracks for at least 30 minutes. We had no idea what the problem was or how long the journey would take. All the while, we were never served any food or water, and there was no snack car. Thank God I jumped off the train at one stop and bought bottled water and 2 teas, and double thank God I had snacks with me. When we hit the 16 hour mark, I had a bit of a breakdown. The whole trip wound up taking over 19 hours with no food or water! To make things worse, we alighted knowing we'd have to repeat the journey in 24 hours to return to Delhi. I was not a happy camper.
Later we learned the delays were due to dense fog in the region causing massive issues with flights and trains. It made the front page of the newspaper. In retrospect, we were fairly lucky to have arrived at all. Our poor driver waited for us at the train station all day, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The silver lining: the fog and an accident resulted in the cancellation of our return train trip. Imaginative Traveller responded perfectly and booked us a flight and arranged an additional hotel in Varanasi. I have never enjoyed a flight more than the one from Varanasi to Delhi.
On the train: it was freezing due to no heat which is why we are wearing hats.
I guess this is as good of time as any to discuss the crippling poverty in India. Before going, I was prepared for it, but the volume is hard to wrap your mind around. In the early morning, virtually every single sidewalk, empty parking space, parks, etc. are covered with homeless sleepers. They are barely clothed (it got near freezing at night), emaciated, dirty, wounded--many were small children and babies. In Varanasi at dawn, we saw a man lying in the middle of the street, completely naked and covered in dirt. The temperature was close to freezing. We seriously questioned if he was dead. At one historic sight, we happened to be there at lunch time, and the workers obviously received free lunch. The "lunch" was a ball of food smaller than a tennis ball. They were fighting and clawing their way to get the food. I am sure it was their only meal of the day. Needless to say, I was in tears more than once. I think everyone, especially Americans, should visit some place like India at least once to gain perspective and gratitude. For me, this horror is a part of why I wanted to visit India.
In the late afternoon, we went to the almost dry river bed behind the Taj to see it at sunset.
The whole building, inside and out, is ornately carved and inlaid with semi-precious stones. Along the doorways are scriptures inlaid with onyx. The letters become larger towards the top of the building so from a distance they appear uniform in size.
View from the Taj looking towards the gate:
More inlaid stone work: 
Carved ceiling: 
It may seem like a small detail, but one aspect of India drove us completely crazy—the lack of change. In Frommers and Imaginative Traveller’s trip guide, are repeated suggestions to carry small change such as 5 or 10 rupees to give as tips or to beggars. Many instances arise for the need of small denominations. For example, if you have 4 bags, then 4 bell hops will carry them 10 feet and each expect a tip. In most nice bathrooms, there is an attendant, one whom physically blocked my exit and thrust her open palm at me. I’m OK with a lot of tipping. The problem is that no one had change less than a 100 rupee note. We succeeded in getting change a few times from our hotel, but only after the manager round up the bell hops and made them empty their pockets of small bills. It was so bad that a few times we were forced to overpay at the hotels. Our rooms were pre-paid, but we would charge bottled water, beer, and meals to our room. For example, upon check out, we owed 873 rupees and handed the manager 1000 cash, but only got 100 back because there was no change! Granted we were shorted less than US$1.00, but that’s not the point. Several times, we were forced to stiff people because we had no small bills. We wondered more than once if this was a tourist scam. Towards the end of the trip, I was totally fed up when the hotel tried once again to round up the bill, and I insisted it be rounded down in my favor—I won. We probably should have used that tactic more often. Arriving in India, we changed about US$250 to rupees and here is the stack of bills we received of 100 rupee notes. Note the huge industrial staples holding the wad together. It took quiet awhile to pry the stack apart so as to not rip the bills. Fortunately, we are now able to laugh about the lack change. 
Our room: 
This is an ancient bathing facility and small temple. We had a tour guide, but he only spoke about 10 words of English, so I can't give any other details. 
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