Bangalore Palace

I started the day with an early morning walk with Ajit around Halasuru Lake and had plans to meet up with Noel, a friend of Sonali’s later in the day. I was very excited to be visiting Bangalore palace! The photos looked very nice!

The exterior of the palace was very beautiful and the ivy was well trimmed to frame the palace as well. It was interesting how the palace was not built symmetrically though. The palace was built in the style of Tudor revival style in 1878 so it has the old English look to it.

Inside the palace we were not allowed to take photos but honestly, the interior did not at all match the exterior. The inside looked more like a kid had been allowed to decorate with each room painted a different bright color from bright blue, yellow, and orange. The art on the walls also did not make any sense. There were baby photos of the maharajas, renaissance art, Hindu art, and Christian art all stuck on the walls in no organized manner. I can only describe the interior of the palace as a hot mess. There was a nice forum plaza in the center of the castle that was ornately decorated that would have been my one photo op.

Following Bangalore Palace, we stopped at a tiny shop in a big building called GangoTree that sold pani puri and sweets. Pani puri is one of my favorite foods but due to the water I can’t eat it off the road so I was glad that this place was safe. I also had rasmalai.

Noel really wanted me to visit Blossom which was a famous bookstore on Church St. I don’t read so I was not that interested by the bookstore but it was cute the way it was laid out. We then went for a traditional south Indian meal on a banana leaf at Bheema’s. Bheema’s was packed and people were fighting for tables in the main part of the restaurant that was quite hot and sweaty. Thankfully they took us to a back room that was air conditioned. Everyone was eating off the banana leaf with their hands but Noel looked at me and asked the waiter for a spoon. Maybe sometime I will attempt to eat with my hands and fail miserably, but not today. The food was all vegetarian and pretty good. A mix of dal and other vegetables.