View from our lanai (with requisite pigeon) After only a week we have internet in our new apartment. It would have been quicker but there was a lot of discussion about which carrier we should use (in the end we got the one we'd started with), then when we finally chose them and they came to hook us up it turned out that the jacks weren't actually wired and they had to call an electrician in to wire the house. But finally yesterday all the pieces fell in place and we were hooked up by supper time. Construction is everywhere in Bangalore. This is just outside Tipu Sultan's palace walls. On Sunday we finally got out and did something touristy. We took an auto-rickshaw to Tipu Sultan's palace (Tipu Sultan did a rather good job of keeping the British at bay, but, in the end, was killed as the Brits stormed his fort). The palace was impressive with giant wooden (rosewood, we were told) columns and intricate painting. It must have been even more impressive when surrounded by trees rather than buildings and still painted in the original colors. It was a Sunday (work week is usually 6 days here) so the place had a lot of visitors and many of them were thrilled at the sight of Kalani and Kekai. At first Kalani and Kekai were rather hesitant about the photo ops But they got more relaxed as the day went on (and the photos became more and more common). Which was good because there were an awful lot of people lining up to be photographed with them! Another cool cultural thing were the rangoli/pookalam that popped up all over Bangalore last week in celebration of the Onam festival. Most of the ones we saw were made from flowers but there was a contest downtown (one of Bangalore's downtowns) in which they were made from colored rice flour. Also people make simple ones with geometric lines in white rice flour (or chalk) in front of their houses. Greenery! After visiting the palace we visited the fort (and saw where the Brits had stormed the walls but we were unable to find the dungeons and armory, much to the boys' dismay), then took another auto to Bull Temple where there is a huge stone Nandi. The temple is still very much in use and we were probably the only non-Hindus there, everyone else had come to pay respects to Nandi. After stopping by the temple we went for a walk on the temple grounds. This is the first time since arriving in Bangalore that we've seen anything resembling forest and I think we were all relived to be out of the crazy city traffic and surrounded by some green. Many of the trees were home to really large bats. Pretty cool.
2 Comments
Liliane Gerwing
9/5/2012 00:19:28
It seems like things are settle down over there. Thanks for putting this blog together. It has been lovely to read about your adventures.
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Mela
9/5/2012 19:57:08
Hi Liliane!
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