the.feeblefutts

A few years ago, a couple of friends of mine and I had the opportunity to take a trip Cairo, Egypt. We knew a few guys there, had a few weeks left in our summer, and couldn’t think of a good reason not to go. 

One of the obvious perks of going to Cairo are the Pyramids of Giza, or so I thought. I know I might be stepping on someone’s toes here, but I wasn’t impressed. Sure they are one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And they blow the minds of Architects. And the site is loaded with history. But they were filthy and under construction [what?!] and hyper commercialized. Not to mention a lot smaller than I thought, partially surrounded by the city and 50 meters from a Pizza Hut.

I have to admit that my expectations were a tad too high. But who could blame me?! Have you ever seen those things in the movies? They are isolate, gigantic, and usually have some transforming space robot lying dormant inside!

Needless to say, when our travels in South Asia began I was determined not to get so worked up about the Taj. After seeing the pyramids, I had sort of lost hope in the value of the Seven Wonders - and definitely didn’t want to be let down again.

After four trips to the Taj Mahal, I am still mesmerized by the marble masterpiece and I will go back. Sure it has it’s hiccups - like tons of people and elaborate scams - but hey, a country and it's people have to earn a living, right?  Either way, I could spend hours looking at it and photographing it and studying it - and I don’t know that it would ever lose it’s wonder for me.

Below are a few photos of my last few visits to the Taj...