Mysore palace

The destination of our trip through the tiger preserve was to Mysore.  This town was the home to Indian royalty.  When the British took it over, it was one of the few palaces that wasn’t destroyed.  Today the palace is available for tours.  The royalty still come yearly in a grand celebration to visit the palace.  The palace is illuminated with hundred of thousands of lights.  The ceremony hadn’t been held due to covid so the crowds were back in force.  We went in the day for the tour. We went at night to see the lights and were there for 30 minutes.  Our driver was able to drive only one block.  When we walked back out, we were able to meet him at the end of the block and then work our way out of the backed up traffic.  

India doesn’t believe in queuing to enter anywhere.  It’s be first and get in first.  Even if there is a semblance of a line, people swarm in the sides to enter more quickly.  As we entered the grounds, there was a large group entering. We joined at the back. People proceeded to swarm from the sides and press from the back. When I say press, I mean push. We all needed to enter through a doorway as wide as Dennis’ arm span. I had to put Liam in front of me. Ben and a friend stood behind Emma. We had to push back against the crowd to not be trampled. My legs were tired by the time we got through. 

Dennis came through later than us. When he got to the wall, he braced himself against both walls and held the crowd back. He let the women and children nicely in. Then told everyone if they didn’t quit pushing he would stand there. I don’t think anyone understood, but they did stop pushing. As soon as he made it through the entrance, the crowd again swarmed. 

The buildings are intricately decorated in and out. The large rooms were built for women to dance for the king and his friends. 

We are glad to be able to see some of the beautiful buildings in India. We also experienced our first Indian festival. We learned that means lots of people, noise, and stand still traffic.