Gwalior

After our last look at the Taj from the back side we set off on the train for Gwalior. Its only about an hour's ride from Agra and definitely off the tourist track. We were surprised to find ourselves in a coach with a couple of dozen middle class women from Agra who were off on a tour of Gwalior. Its a city of around 800,000 and except for the fort and a museum made from a former palace it doesn't have much to offer for the tourist. Unfortunately it was Wednesday and the palace was closed.
The fort is situated on top of a huge hill which overlooks the town. The Agra Red Fort was modeled on this one.
Views of the city from the fort.

The blue color is actually tiles.

The fort dates from the 1500's. There are ducks, elephants, palm trees, parrots and flowers on the tilework.


Elephants.

And, of course, an Indian family had to pose with Andrea.
Indian rangers,

We had stowed our baggage at the station during our tour as we were continuing on to Orchha via the train station in Jhansi (the nearest one to Orchha) After the fort we had a delightful lunch in a swank hotel near the station.

People sleeping even though it was early afternoon. We had the portion of lunch we couldn't eat packed up and Andrea gave it to the first hungry people she could find. It didn't take long.
And there are always hungry dogs who need snacks as well.

We're still smiling after a long day.

Then there is always the luggage problem. At some stations the train only stops for 5 minutes or less. By this point the four of us had 11 bags to get off somehow. So we decided to pile them up against the door. Then we had to hope that we were getting off on the right side of the train.