Mysore - No eye sore

It was just one of those weekend trips. But a very memorable one it was. From Bangalore it's only 2 hours and the all new wide windowed Shataabdi Express is a beautiful train to travel in, not to forget, extremely punctual.

We reached Mysore at lunch time and checked into The Royal Orchid Metropole. A beautiful hotel. It used to be a guest house of the Maharaja of Mysore. The entrance lobby was adorned with a silver sofa set and a silver swing (coated with real silver). A spiral wooden staircase which was a work of ingenious engineering, with no support whatsoever. All the ancient furniture still retained, this place was going to give us a charming experience.

The rooms were nice and warm with some antique furniture. I personally love old furniture. For me, the new age things just don't matter. The balcony was overlooking an open air restaurant and two huge mango trees said to have been planted by the Maharaja himself. There is something about living in these places of royal history! On one of the walls, there was a black and white picture of an English woman. The hotel staff said it had been there since the beginning and they didn't have a clue to who she was! Must have been one of the Maharaja's 'special' guests!!

After a sumptuous lunch at the hotel, (my son didn't like the fact that it wasn't made by his mother, so he chose to have only the gulab jaamuns!) we rested for a while in our room and at around 5 pm, left to see the Mysore Palace.

The Mysore Palace had a huge crowd outside. People were being checked by the security before they were let in. But the security here is a big joke. They were asking people to leave their cameras behind as you couldn't take photographs of the palace. But there were hundreds of people inside who were comfortably taking pictures. I too pushed my way through the crowd with the camera in my bag. My husband carried our son and pushed his way inside.

What a larger than life view it was. The sprawling lawns, the beautiful royal temple with a towering Gopuram, the monolithic tiger sculptures and in the midst of it all, the splendour the palace standing under the cloudy skies. How picturesque!

We opted out to see the museum inside the palace building as it would be very difficult to manoeuvre through the crowds with our little toddler. And with the dark clouds looming over our heads, it was practical to avoid it altogether. We left soon thereafter and as we reached the hotel, it started to drizzle. The drizzle soon changed into a heavy down pour. We were right on time!

The next day was reserved for the Vrindavan Gardens. We left in the morning. It was terribly hot outside. Mysore is much warmer than Bangalore but the place is much more charming with palatial structures all over the town. We reached the garden in 45 minutes. They say the garden should be visited in the evenings when the whole place is lit up and the famous water fountains can be seen in all their splendour. But considering the rains, we thought it was wiser to go there in the day. It was beautiful. The only thing lacking in this place was some work in the surrounding area. There is an area where little children can play. Swings, slides etc. This is very ill maintained unlike the garden. Also, the animal statues they've placed there would scare the children terribly!

Back to the hotel, it was time to relax. We rested all afternoon in the hotel. Fed my toddler with some homemade puris and saw some television. Evening was spent running after my boy in the lawn and playing house with him in the barbeque hut. Thus ended our stay in Mysore.

I would definitely want to visit Mysore again. To make up for all the things missed out this time. The museum, the fountains and food at Dasaprakash.