8-1-2011 A little shopping in Agra

On the way back through Agra, our guide directed us to a jewelry store that has been in operation in Agra since the 1850's. The premises is quite secure with a gate through which vehicles pass and an armed guard with a long rifle sitting on the porch. Our  guide PC should get a pretty good commission from these guys as it is hard not to purchase once you enter this store.
     The first part of the store visit is the museum portion. These guys have a true museum with many interesting artifacts, including guest books signed by their many famous visitors such as Prince Charles and Farah, wife of the Shah of Iran during a time when he was at the height of his power. There are various historic jewelry pieces and other items such as rugs with semi precious stones inlaid and it is all quite impressive.
     They then open a curtain and take you into another room to make their sales pitch. This room is very much like an American jewelry store. It is interesting that the lights in the room are off until the first customer enters. This is probably to save energy as electricity is very expensive in India.
     Fariba is not big on jewelry but this is special and we found a couple of pieces that we liked. We haggled a deal and bought the rings. The guy finally agreed to the price we wanted because we were the 'first customers of the afternoon'--they always say something like that when they finally 'give in'. The rings were beautiful and unique.
     It was now time to drive back for a view of Agra fort. It was here that after building the Taj Mahal for his widow, the king was overthrown by his own son and imprisoned for the rest of his life in a chamber that had a perfect view of the Taj Mahal. Extremely sad story. We decided to skip the actual tour of Agra Fort and instead chose to go back to the hotel and chill.