A Trip to Mysore part 2

On Sunday Dec. 28 we learned from the previous day's experience that there were a lot more people on holiday than we expected, so we went to Mysore Palace soon after it opened at 10AM. The palace was built between 1897 and 1912 to replace one that had burned, so it has many modern features built in that an older place would have added at a later time- Like electricity. It was designed by British architects living in India and the style is called "Indo- Saracenic" . In any case, it is a beautiful building. We paid the entry fee after standing in a line that was not terribly long. Of course, we paid the foreigner rate, but we soon learned that this included an audio tour that was quite good. Over the years we have found that many of these audio tours are quite worthwhile. Somehow Janet knew to keep the entry ticket. Then as we went through security they told us that we have to check our cameras , so we did- 10 Rs fee plus a ticket and key. Then, we went to the palace to go in before the crowds came. We had to take off our shoes and check them (10 Rs + a ticket) and go barefoot or in socks through the palace. Some where before going in we saw the signs for an audio tour for 100 Rs, we decided to do that but that is when we learned that the tour is included for foreigners, but we had to leave a picture ID and get another ticket (for those who are counting, that comes to 4 different tickets). We went into the palace and found the path fairly well marked, but the audio tour signs were not in order and not always visible, so we had to back track at times. The narrative was quite good. The palace is also beautifully decorated with carved teak ceilings, wood doors with elaborate ivory inlay (use of ivory is now banned) pietra dura floors (marble slabs with inlaid patterns in other stones) and Ceilings elaborately painted. It was all very impressive. We then walked the grounds and took lots of pictures. We had to hand over one ticket when we returned the audio players and got our passport back and we turned in another ticket to get our shoes back, then we turned in a 3rd ticket to get our cameras back. As we left the grounds , Janet got ahead of me and the guards detained her until I came out with the ticket for entry to show that she had not jumped over the walls. They were relieved to find that I had the ticket and their security system was in tact.

We then went to Chamundi Hill which has a nice view of the city. We took several pictures, but you see one view of the Palace from the hill. There is a big Nandi Bull carved from a piece of granite up there and an old temple that we avoided due to expected crowds. The Nandi Bull was crowded enough that we thought we might not get the car out, but the driver assured us there was another way out. There was. We then went for Sunday brunch at the Lalitha Mahal Palace which is now a government run hotel. It was built about 1930 for friends of the Maharaja to stay. The guide books say it is grand to stay in most of the rooms, but they say the service is rather lax. We had a decent lunch and walked around a bit. There are shops with keepers trying to sell stuff. The only one where we seriously thought of buying was a little book shop that had no sales person, so we left.
We then went to a small train museum that is outdoors. It had 5 or 6 old locomotives and 5 or 6 cars. In a small building were two cars that had been the Maharani's private cars. They were not very grand, but pleasant. Some of the locomotives were narrow gauge. India has some trains still running that have locomotives dating from the 1800's on narrow gauge track. The most famous is in Darjeeling. There is another that is not far from Bangalore. The museum cost 5 Rs- about 10 cents. There was also a little narrow gauge train that we road- just a 5 minute loop with battery power.

Our next stop was a part of some national museum of mankind that has Indira Gandhi's name on it. This one is mainly about people in the far north of India near and in the Himalaya's. No pictures allowed inside so we took some outside that show these terra cotta like figures. It is a small place and somewhat interesting. We were curious about the gift shop that a guide book recommended, but it was disappointing.

We returned to our hotel to rest for an hour or two before we went out again to walk to the Palace grounds to see the lighting of the palace and grounds.

The walk was not very long, but the roads are just as hazardous as in Bangalore. They did not charge an entry fee at night but you pay a price by fighting your way through the crowds to enter the grounds. There are thousands of people going in and they actually had them funnel down to a width to pass through a single metal detector! Very amusing thinking. People were squeezing through the metal detector 3 at a time. How much this improved our security is questionable. But, we got in and took one picture just before the lights came on. The guide books say there are about 95,000 bulbs and it is impressive! The palace is outlined, but many of the gateways and temples are as well. We stayed around to take pictures for awhile. They only light the place for an hour. The electric bill is probably a bit much. After returning to the hotel we went out for dinner at the "Tiger Trail" in another hotel. It was good and reasonably priced.

On Monday Dec 29 we went to a few places to shop and a music shop to get a "tabla"- a small drum used in much Indian music. We attempted to go to a folk art museum on the college campus, but when we got close we saw that several bus loads of people were just entering and we decide the visit could wait. We decided to head for home about 4PM. This allowed us to make the trip in daylight- at least to the outskirts of Bangalore. There are many stories about horrible accidents on the roads at night. The road from Bangalore to Mysore is considered one of the better ones in this part of the country, but there are still cities and villages to go through and lots of farmers on the roads with their ox carts. We saw many examples of farmers working the fields with ox drawn equipment.
We arrived back in the Apartment quite tired, but very happy with our trip to Mysore. It is our first trip away from Bangalore and, hopefully, the first of many more to other parts of the country! Ziggy and Zoe want to add a few lines now.

We don't know where those people were, but we got a little lonesome here by ourselves! The human who helps keep our place clean came each day and that was nice, but we really don't like it when these people think they can just go away without permission. Of course, we don't really like to go along, but, still, they should ask permission. Also, why do all those nice cane things have to get moved outside where we can't get to them to sharpen our claws?