Day trip to Mysore

We spent X-mas Eve on a 1-day bus tour to Mysore, a city near Bangalore known as the Garden City. This one will go down in the memory books...

Our friends were planning to drive us down to visit Mysore, but due to their change of plans (mentioned in previous posting), they booked us on this bus tour instead.

The bus part of the tour was quite a nightmare, none of which our friends knew or could have done anything about when booking it. We got on at 6:30a, made multiple pickups throughout the city, and finally left Bangalore at 9:00a! Then we stopped on the side of the highway for some type of lubrication, then at the petrol (gas) station, and then at a tourist-trap souvenir shop (we're convinced the driver/tour company must get a cut of the purchases). At noon, we made our first stop in the historic town of Sri Rangapatnam. We could have done without this stop, but it did add to our understanding of the area. We got on our way to Mysore around 12:45p, and lunch was our first stop there. Then, we stopped at another shop, but M and I actually decided to make a couple of purchases there because we liked the things, and it was a government-run operation (we hope). We then saw a Roman Catholic church built by a French bishop. It was very neo-Gothic in appearance, with the Indian touch being red and yellow stained glass in the arches. It was nicely decorated for X-mas. We also saw a couple of temples, but didn't make it inside due to crowds and time constraints.

Of the places we visited, the main Palace and the Brindavan Gardens in Mysore were our favorites. The Palace is gorgeous and easily rivals some of the ones I've seen or heard about in Europe. We were a little miffed that they make you take off your shoes before entering the palace, but "this is India" (my favorite expression to explain away things I don't understand). The Gardens (separate) are known for their musical and lit fountains (i.e. best seen at night, which is what we did). It was quite crowded due to it being vacation for school kids, but we managed to find some quiet spots to enjoy it all.

We had front row seats on the bus, which meant everyone getting on the bus after us at each stop bumped my knee or elbow. The front row also did not have a foot rest, and my legs not touching the floor got old very quickly. We left the Gardens at 8:30p, stopped for dinner at 10p (M and I did not get off to eat as we were too tired and sleepy), and made it to Bangalore around midnight. We then drove around making multiple stops and finally got to ours around 1:30a. We were exhausted and thrilled to get off the bus. Vijay was kind enough to be there waiting to pick us up, and had sandwiches ready as we'd requested.

We're glad to have seen Mysore, but the bus trip is one we'd soon forget.