A restful Sunday in Bangalore

Simon signing in;

Waking this morning at a decent hour to get an early start to our day, we succeeded in leaving the house at around 10.30. Three hours after waking. We tried. We had decided that we wanted to get out and get started a.s.a.p. to get a few sights in.

It was a lovely morning and Sunday seems to be the overall rest day for all Bangaloreans as it was very quiet and few cars on the roads. Our first destination was the Government Museum which claimed to house wonderful portraits, miniatures, jewellery and other items. We had decided to walk as it was Sunday and well, we had no need to be anywhere else so why not take our time. As is customary with travel with Rein, the walk went on for around 8km in which many a detour was taken. I personally like direct routes, but I guess I have learned to trust Rein and go with the flow (well, there was the sewer incident).

Although it was Sunday, and that the streets were much quieter than normal, it was still NON-STOP. People everywhere, noise, smog, cars, bikes and all of the above. Taking the detour meant leaving most of this behind. It was a pleasant walk past many a local market stall. One in particular looked lovely and Rein asked the little old lady if we could take a pic. No problem. Well, the stalls around us wanted to know why they did not have the privilege so we took some others. One in particular saw an old lady run into the picture, grab Rein's arm to throw around HER shoulder as if they were best buddies! Too funny. Contrary to what we expected, people actually like their picture taken in India.

Rein's new best friend

The walk was lovely but I was glad to just arrive at our destination. The building was a remainder of the Raj period and could have as easily been found in the UK or even Australia as it just screamed British.

The imposing Government Museum of Bangalore

Upon entering we were happy to see the entry fee for adults was just 4 rupees which is around .08 Euro. Any museum in Delhi had foreigner rates which were twenty times the local fee. Well, the museum sure had fallen on some hard times and it seemed that what ever treasures there once were must have been shipped off to a better museum somewhere else. The building itself was worth the walk around plus we ended up having lunch in the garden.

After lunch we took a leisurely walk through the adjacent gardens of Cubbon Park which links itself to the High court and the parliament buildings for Karnataka, the state in which we live.

The original woman herself, Victoria

By this stage I was starting to just get tired. Partly from the walk, but just as much by the constant stimulation of everything around us. We ended up finding an auto-rickshaw and escape to the gigantic Botanical Lal Bach gardens for a rest.

The gardens seemed to be a popular place for everyone to escape as it too was busy but being so big, we were sure to find some quite spot to sit and nap.

The gardens were lovely indeed and we could see why the locals loved to be here, although it looked like ALL the locals decided to pop past too. The park was massive yet you would be sitting no more than 10mtr from the next group! Rein was loving the escape of the city smog and noise and I guess I too was enjoying the escape.

Karnataka Parliament

This is the motto on the local government building;
did they get it from Belgium?

Gob smacked Bollywood Lion

Finally we both had enough and decided to just return to our apartment. On the way, we AGAIN stopped for our favourite sweets and am now sitting on our terrace with Mohaan, our Nepalese house whalla is helping us with our chai.

Mohaan, just after being asked for yet more chai,  change of the sheets, Mr. Rein's  pillows to be fluffed and did he have to have a sleeze mo? He is a sport.

Simon out.