The Royal Treatment

Today I got the "royal" treatment. My driver, Amith, took me to see Bangalore Palace... the former home of the King & Queen. It was built in 1887 by King Chamaraja Wodeyar and is supposed to be inspired by the Windsor Castle in London. Not only did I get to look around, but I got my own personal guide and tour of the castle. It was amazing. I'd never seen a palace with so many different styles and colors of ceiling tiles! Plus, the last King and Queen to inhabit this palace back the 30s had the coolest circa 1930s art deco furniture--too cool for a medieval-style structure.

Another advantage of having my own personal tour was that I was allowed to not only look at whatever I wanted, but to touch it, open it, explore the different rooms, and also take pictures of whatever I wanted. There were no "velvet ropes" on this tour. My favorite part of that privilege was touching the handmade stools fashioned from, oh I don't know, elephant's feet, perhaps?! Or how about buffalo hooves...? Yeah, this King was decadent. If you'd like to see my whole set of pictures from my personal tour (including the 100 year old elephant head mounted in the main foyer), just click on any of my slide shows and you'll be taken to my Picasa online galleries.

Later after the palace tour, Amith and I went shopping again and I picked-up the last of the Christmas gifts for my family back home in Minnesota. I also went out walking when I got home and explored my neighborhood... too bad I didn't have my camera, but I will take it another time. I would have loved to show you the cow that leisurely sauntered down the middle of the street like she owned it... sheesh! Moooove on over, darlin! (It's funny to watch the cabs and cars honk at them... they could care less). What a life. Happy weekend, all :o)