Cafe Travelogue - MYSORE (Part 2)
November 06, 2015
As promised, here is Part 2. You can read Part 1 here (in case you missed it) where we covered Tipu Sultan's Summer Palace in Srirangapatna, the Mysore Palace Illumination, the beautiful Mysore Zoo and the decorated city in general.
Let me now tell you about the other places and events that take place in Mysore, around the time of Dussehra.
Let me now tell you about the other places and events that take place in Mysore, around the time of Dussehra.
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4. Mysore Flower Show
Every year, Mysore holds the Dasara Flower Show. Since our hotel was right across the selected venue, all we had to do was cross the road. From our hotel, we had witnessed the mad rush and crowd that gathers and keeps increasing as the day progresses. So we played smart and sneaked in there early morning when it had just opened.
The last time we saw the flower show, it was in a smaller place but still impressive. This time, the venue was a big park. But other than a few flower arrangements, there was nothing interesting here.
Here are some pictures.
5. St. Philomena's Church
St. Philomena's Church in Mysore is built in neo-Gothic style and is apparently inspired by the Cologne Cathedral in Germany. Inside the church below the main altar, there are steps leading to the tomb of St. Philomena.
I like churches when there is nobody inside. It helps me connect better with God and gives me such peace of mind that I usually never get to experience during mass service.
This church falls on the route from Bangalore to Mysore. So you can stop by here before entering the main city, or choose to come later like we did.
6. Jaganmohan Palace
This palace is now an Art Gallery since many years and houses many valuable paintings especially by the famous Indian painter, Raja Ravi Varma. Besides paintings, you will also find coins, musical instruments, weapons and such other exhibits. Photography is strictly prohibited. But there a lot of wall paintings that you should surely not miss next time you are here.
7. Karanji Nature Park
This lake park lies on the route to Chamundi Hills. This place has a decent lake with boating facilities but nothing great. It also has a small butterfly park area inside the main park. However, I just found a few. There were a lot of them listed on the butterfly board; so I clicked a picture of that instead.
The Karanji Park is ideal for a nice walk in the evening. But what impressed me the most was the open-air aviary. Actually, it is an enclosure which you enter by opening a grill door. But once inside, it feels like an open-air place where birds are leisurely walking around, climbing onto their perch or taking short flights, and you are also strolling alongside them. I just loved it! The aviary is so full of greenery, trees and plants that you would almost forget that it is an enclosure. Remember the enclosure in Jurassic World where the hybrid dinosaur was.... this was something similar but on a smaller scale!
Most of the pictures that we took were blurred since the birds kept moving; so sharing a few here.
I think these were called swamp hens or something. I know, they look like normal hens but I could not just discriminate them from other birds while taking pictures, could I? They would have felt awful; besides they were actually pretty!!!
Some more bird pictures...
While I was clicking him, this fellow kept climbing more and more up this tree but all the while maintaining a cold stare at me till I was almost certain that he would land on my head and drill tiny, tiny holes.
8. Sand Museum
This is also on the route to Chamundi Hills. It is an open-air place but the sand works have a roof to protect them. It is a small place and you would finish seeing this 'museum' in a matter of minutes. I wish they had more works in sand, or maybe an activity area for visitors to practise some sand-work. A place good for taking some nice pictures of sand creations. Though the sand-works are all good, you won't be able to spend a lot of time here anyway since it is a small place.
Some pictures of sand-creations...
9. Chamundi Hill and Temple
After the Sand Museum, we had a long drive uphill to reach Chamundi Hill. The Chamundeshwari Temple is also located here. However, what comes to my mind when I think of this place is when I visited here with my parents long back and of having eaten the sweetest pineapple in the whole world. And I don't even like pineapples that much but it was so sweet!
Another reason why people come here is because you get to see a panoramic view of Mysore city from up here, especially after the lights come on, in the evening. You will find many stalls here selling a variety of things from puja items and flowers to bags and toys.
Next day, we headed back home to join the madness of Bangalore.
With that, we come to the end of this travelogue too. Hope you enjoyed reading it!
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