12/27/2011
It’s day 470 of my journey towards independence and day 20 of vacation we arrived in Mysore, Karnataka – the second largest city in the state – the largest is Bangalore – famous for its exports of silk and sandalwood oil all over India (the eight hour bus trip was hellish every time the bus driver would slam on the brakes I would slip lower on the chair because get this no vehicle has seats belts for passenger seats we ended up using the belts people use as accessories for their clothes suffice to say it didn’t work out too well – checked in to Pai Vista – our hotel for the night with all the luxuries you could imagine (LCD TV, Wi-Fi, the softest bed I have slept on since I’ve been in India, two bathroom, a gym and a swimming pool) – had lunch at Jungle (see pictures of my family and I below) – the restaurant in the hotel (when you walk in you really feel like you’re in the Amazon the ceiling was covered in leaves and amongst the leaves was a fake snake and to complete the Amazon theme all the waiters were dressed as rangers the food wasn’t too bad either they always have a multi cuisine buffet during lunch Monday-Friday) – went to the Mysore Palace – I saw the places where the king used to hold his public, private and parliamentary meetings, where the people danced when weddings took place there and so on and so forth unfortunately we weren’t able to take pictures of the inside of the palace because it was forbidden but below are the pictures of the outside of the palace (Note: if you’re in a wheelchair the palace might not be the best place for you to visit the place was all stairs luckily for me my dad had practice lifting my wheelchair with me in it – went to Chamundi Hills – According to legend, the demon Mahishasura, king of the area that is currently Mysore, was killed by the Goddess Chamundeswari (also Chamundi) after a fierce battle. The hills are named after the goddess, and a temple honors her in the hills. The temple has a beautiful idol of the goddess. – And had Parotta and chicken curry at Karali – a restaurant in Mysore.