Most weeks, school is six days each week with Sunday off. Once each month, we have both Saturday and Sunday free. Because we have limited time to travel, I got this idea: On Friday, take the overnight train to Mysore (lovely town, unfortunate name) where we could see the Raj’s palace and tour on Saturday, then take the overnight train back to Chennai on Saturday night – which would give us Sunday to recover before school Monday. I bought the tickets, but as the date drew closer I realized we would have to carry all our luggage all day and that we would sleep badly for two nights before heading back into another long week. But we persevered. We kept our provisions low (even sliced a novel in half to cut the weight). The trip was much more successful that I had feared. May enjoyed the elephant ride and Aven was pleased to get good noodles at a hotel restaurant. I made a loud scene (very embarrassing to May) over being asked to pay a bribe to allow us to take cameras into the palace. Cameras are technically not permitted inside. However, when we got into the palace, the vast majority of Indian tourists were taking pictures with their phones. We refrained because, after the scene I caused, I did not want to give anyone a reason to hassle us. So, we have only 'outside the palace' pictures to share. Aven and May were in good spirits and loved the train rides.
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| Aven refuses to smile for photos - but he is looking more grown up. May is naturally photogenic. |
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| The Maharaja's Palace |
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| May and I on the elephant with the palace int he background. |
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| Beautiful tree. I think the purple flowers might be a vine covering the actual tree. But it was breathtakingly beautiful. |
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| Goofing around. The train car has the words "LIFT HERE" painted near the middle of the car. May and Aven are trying to follow that instruction. |
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| Loved this sign because the symbol for "women" is a figure wearing a sari rather than a dress. |
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