1N/2D getaway from Bengaluru to Mysore In Radha Travells
The time had come for another quick 2-day/1-night getaway. Mysore is our choice because there are a few things/places we haven't seen/done on previous trips to Mysore, despite the fact that we visited 25-30 times in childhood. Viji has a higher count, having stayed for 2 years in Manasa Gangotri when he was a graduate student. Fortunately, the Heritage Hotel "Metropolis", now owned by Royal Orchid Group, offered us a fantastic offer for Rs 4300.00 plus breakfast per person. Groupon.co.in has been a great help! The next morning, we booked one way tickets with KSTRC for the 4th Dec. As we approached the bus station, we found a complimentary upgrade for the 8:15am club class to Mysore bus that left exactly on time. Mysore reached at 11:00am. As soon as we checked into a few different hotels, we went straight to the one we wanted to make sure we had a metered room. The Metropole Hotel was waiting for us in no time. In fact, it still looked like it did when we first stayed at this hotel 22 years ago. The hotel has undergone a few modifications. The Maharaja built this hotel in 1920 to be a British Guest House for British visitors. All the antiques and decor have been preserved. Then, after a brief tour of the premises, we ate lunch at the Tiger Metropole Cafe Trail (which is rated as one of Lonely Planet's Top 10 Restaurants in Mysore). We enjoyed it! It was delicious! We had planned out our day of sightseeing and decided to head to Cauvery Backwater to catch the sunset that night, visit Venugopala temple the following morning and ascend the 1,000+ steps to Chamundi to view the sunrise. Later we visited some museums before returning to Bangalore. This hotel is around 25km from KRS/Vrindavan Garden. Cauvery backwater can be reached in 7 km. The hotel staff helped us to book a half day taxi. Our driver, who is from Mysore was a new employee and had never heard of the Cauvery backwater. This is a lovely place. It's a beautiful place! The temple sits on the shores of the backwaters. The temple is huge, and it will be completed in about one year. This is an interesting story about the temple
Venugopalaswamy Temple
The Venugopalaswamy shrine in Kannambadi was scheduled to be flooded when the KRS dam project was first conceived. The main idol moved to a different temple. The vast temple complex, along with its majority of idols, was submerged by water in 1930. The temple would appear again whenever water levels in the reservoir decreased, typically during years of drought. It was particularly evident in the early 2000s. Khoday Foundation and the liquor baron/philanthropist re-submerged the temple in 2004, after the water had submerged it for 70 years. In 2004, Sri Sri Hari Khoday was tasked with restoring and moving the Hosa Kannambadi temple. If water levels in the KRS reach 124.80 ft (its maximum capacity), backwaters could touch the walls of temple. In-house group architects recorded the original site, photographed it over 16,000 times and marked every slab that was used to build the original. The artisans, experts and half a dozen Tamil Nadu specialist helped recreate each stone at Hosa Kannambadi.
It is nearly complete, and now the temple idols need to be placed. There are 46 temples in total - each 17 on the south and north sides of the complex and 12 along the west side. 24 idols as well 10 Vishnu manifestations, Brahma figures, Saraswati and Harihara and Jalasyana. The temple complex is truly amazing! Khoday did a wonderful job restoring the temple. People at the Temple told us 70% of stones were original, and 30% new. All temples are free of any water damage. All of them are kept now in a bunker/tank and covered by paddy. This was an amazing sight. Here in Bangalore Horny call girls in Bangalore are also available sometimes
It was 6:20 in the evening when we stopped at Vrindavan Gardens. We had been watching the sunset and were astonished to see how crowded it was. It was a complete contrast to where we were coming from. There was a constant stream of people at the area with dancing fountains! The crowd was so bad that we left after only five minutes. Vrindavan Gardens looked like it was in its glory days again with good maintenance. Royal Orchid is now managing the hotels of Vrindavan. When I first visited the garden in 2004, with an out-of-town friend, I was blown away by its beauty. When we left KRS it was 6.50pm. Our driver took us to Vinayaka Mylari. This small, local restaurant/joint is said to be famous in the last 60 years for their dosas. It was the first time we heard of it. This is nothing but a hole-in-the wall, and the place was not clean. All the items on their list were sold out, except for plain dosa... As we came from a long distance, we decided to try the dosa. Although it was good... The dosas at these places are much more delicious.
It was 6:20 in the evening when we stopped at Vrindavan Gardens. We had been watching the sunset and were astonished to see how crowded it was. It was a complete contrast to where we were coming from. There was a constant stream of people at the area with dancing fountains! The crowd was so bad that we left after only five minutes. Vrindavan Gardens looked like it was in its glory days again with good maintenance. Royal Orchid is now managing the hotels of Vrindavan. When I first visited the garden in 2004, with an out-of-town friend, I was blown away by its beauty. When we left KRS it was 6.50pm. Our driver took us to Vinayaka Mylari. This small, local restaurant/joint is said to be famous in the last 60 years for their dosas. It was the first time we heard of it. This is nothing but a hole-in-the wall, and the place was not clean. All the items on their list were sold out, except for plain dosa... As we came from a long distance, we decided to try the dosa. Although it was good... The dosas at these places are much more delicious.