Day in the Sister City 

The Royal Treatment

            We began our tour of Mysore on a chartered bus with Joseph our guide. He was full of energy and excitement. The first stop on our agenda was the Chamundeshwari Temple. Our bus drove up a large hill that overlooked the whole city. You could see everything for miles. It was absolutely stunning. Joseph described to us the history of the hill as we journey to the top.

            Once our bus parked we walked down the street and were instantly swept away but the markets and all the people. There were so many sights and sounds it was so excited. As we walked up to the temple a couple cows greeted us. Joseph said they were the temple cows and they never leave. Being from Ohio we see cows all the time but never that up close.

            We took our shoes off and walked into the temple. There were a lot of people praying and chanting. We carried in coconut and flowers to be blessed for good luck. The temple was filled with chanting and music. The architecture was beautiful and hand carved. After leaving the temple I felt at peace and calm, this was something ou just couldn’t experience in Cincinnati.

            On our way to the next stop we stopped to see the Nandi statue. This statue is said to bring good luck and health. To get to the statue you pass people carving small statues by hand. It was something I had never seen before, so of course I had to have one.

            Our next stop was the Mysore Palace. When we entered the gates all of our mouths dropped. Seeing the size and the detail were almost overwhelming. As soon as we parked we we greeted by another tour guide. We walked into a back room where we were asked to remove our shoes. We were going to receive a private tour and we needed to be very gracious and not draw attention.

            Walking through the halls of the palace left me speechless. The paintings, the details, the architecture, the marble, and the art were amazing. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and made us feel like royalty. We got to discover the palace the way a king or queen would. I got the opportunity to ask our tour guide a ton of questions. He gave me a world of knowledge.

            When leaving the palace we thanked him for his time and journeyed to the side of the palace where we were met by a group of elephants. On of my dreams has been to ride and elephant in India and today my dream came true. The experience was just has wonderful as I imagined it to be.

After a great day we ate lunch as local hotel. It was stunning as well. The food was amazing and they gave us the VIP treatment as well. When we were finished with lunch we finished the day by doing some shopping. We went to a silk outlet. The fabric was beautiful and handmade. There were so many colors and the silk felt so smooth.

What a great way to end the day. Then we went back to hotel and rest for the next day. What a great day, Mysore mead us feel very special.