Brindavan Gardens, Mysore, Karnataka, India

Brindavan Gardens in Mysore is one of the most visited parks in India with more than a million tourists visiting every year. This Park stands out because it is the first in India to have musical fountain and became a huge attraction which people from all across the country fell in love with.

I was lucky to visit this garden at a very young age. It was always received in high prestige when I used to tell my friends during my school days. Now that I have grown up to be in my mid 20’s, I thought it’s a good time to visit the place again and relive the memories. So I decided to make this as a family trip when I was visiting my sister in Bangalore.

The drive from the city of Bangalore to Brindavan Gardens in Mysore takes about 3 hours. I was looking for a nice place to stay close to the gardens and came across a beautiful hotel (Royal Orchid) which was the guest house for royal people in the old times. This hotel is actually built inside the gardens and gives an amazing view of the whole gardens at morning and night. It is little expensive, but if you can afford it then it is worth every penny spent for the stay.

I came here on weekday so that I can avoid the weekend crazy rush. It was almost late evening when I checked into the hotel, so we thought of getting some snacks before taking a walk in the garden to enjoy the night lights and musical fountain show. It started raining the moment I ordered Onion Bhajjias (dumplings) and Mysore filter coffee. I had this craving of eating the Bhajjias (dumplings) in the rain and cannot be happier that the craving was fulfilled at this location.

This garden is located just next to the dam so it gets beautiful at night to listen to the light sound of winds and water. This place is a nice getaway for the weekend. I would totally recommend a visit to this gardens.

I am posting the pictures taken at the gardens. Please enjoy them and feel free to leave a comment.

Laxmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara, Gujarat, India

Laxmi Vilas Palace is one place that I have been hearing so much about all the while growing up as a kid in this beautiful cultural city called VADODARA in a prosperous state of GUJARAT in the most divine and amazing country INDIA.

I lived in Vadodara all my childhood but never went to this humongous but beautiful palace. It was only when I was away from my hometown, I got inspired and curious to go and see what this palace is about. To go and see why it is so much talked about. To go and see why it so near and dear to all the Barodian’s (Vadodara was known as Baroda before and people living here are referred as Barodian’s).

I am glad that I ended up visiting Laxmi Vilas Palace. Visiting this palace made me wonder how brilliant the architects back then and how skilled the laborers were. This masterpiece building has been unaffected for decades. The view from the balconies and the main rooms are amazing. The details put in the interior designs are mind blowing.

The interiors show how much did the kings and the royal families enjoyed Fine arts and how much it was valued back then. The lush green golf ground in the front takes this palace to the next league of royalty.

Please take a look at few of the clicks I was able to capture during my visit to this magnificent palace in the culture city of India.

Seattle - Tulips Festival

One of the memorable trips I have had in USA has been the trip to Seattle, WA. I had always wanted to go to a colorful place and wanted to see fields of tulips for photography.I had read on one of the websites that the best tulip fields in USA which can come little close to the ones in Europe, are in Seattle (Washington State).

So I decided to visit Skagit Valley which is known for its tulip festival that usually falls during first/second week of April. So here comes my first trip purely out of passion for photography. I took a week off from work and reached Seattle. I decided to go during the week in order to avoid the crowd on weekends.

The first day when I landed in Seattle, it rained heavily and looked like it wouldn't be a great week to go out in the fields with a camera. So that evening, I decided to just drive around the city and checkout local restaurants. Luckily I came across this great pizza place called Can-AM Pizza (http://canampizza.com/). I loved the pizza here.

Next day, surprisingly against weather predictions, the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day with perfect temperatures in high 50s and 60s (of course in Fahrenheit). So, I couldn't wait to go out in the tulip fields. It was an amazing experience, indeed! I was dumbfounded to see the beauty of simple flowers and fields and how wonderful they looked.
The fields were all wet, muddy, challenging enough to promise one thing - "Your pants and shoes are going to be spoilt". Hence, I went to the nearest Walmart and bought the cheapest pair of jeans as well as shoes on sale, and dared to go in the mud. Although it rained on the previous day, I must say that I got really lucky to experience the beautiful and sunny weather during my trip in the fields. Please checkout the pictures below and relive my experience with tulip fields.

Feel free to leave comments/feedback and write about your experience if you end up going to tulip fields in Seattle.

Fall Colors on a foggy morning !!

It was a beautiful morning, stars and moon was visible from the ground and weather was just perfect.
So, I hopped into my car and decided to go for sunrise during peak fall colors. Little did I know that nature had different plans. I reach the mountains which is around little less than 2 hours drive from where I live, and the dark clouds started to appear, fog starts building up and becomes so thick that I could hardly see anything beyond few feet.

This made me quite sad because not only did I miss sunrise but also will not be able to enjoy the fall colors / foliage. But as it is said, its never the end if it is not good, I was able to get a drive where it feels like heaven and felt as if I was driving in clouds and made me feel very very excited.

At one of the stretches in the skyline drive, there was some better visibility and I could see at least till about 50 meters. So, I got down the car and started taking pictures of fall colors and the beautiful curves of the road in front and back and was totally into photography. I was so excited that I was behaving like a small kid who is given more than what is asked for. Suddenly I hear some noise of leaves moving and getting crushed and I wondered what it could be.

I was thinking that there was no one a few seconds ago then how come this noise now ?

When I turned around, I saw a black bear standing and staring at me from around 70-80 feet away from me. I was scared and excited at the same time. Thankfully my excitement took over my fear and I was able to get couple pictures (please see below) before the bear disappeared.

Some more pictures from the beautiful enriching drive.

Sunset at Smoky Mountains, North Carolina

Sunset view from Clingmans Done

This picture was taken at Smoky Mountains in North Carolina/Tennessee.
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Started from home on a Saturday morning for a long drive to go to the smoky mountains which was 400+ miles away for only one reason. "Click good photographs".

That was all it took to start the journey and drive for the next 20 hours.

Starting from Northern Virginia, scenery on the way to smoky mountains was pleasing to eyes. There are plenty of places to get good view of mother nature as soon as we enter NC/TN borders.

The trip to smokies is not complete without going to the highest point in the mountains, The "Clingmans Dome". We need to park our cars in a parking lot around 3/4th of a mile away from the Dome. The walk to the dome is really good and everyone of you will definitely enjoy it.
I was lucky enough to even see couple of baby bears with their mother.

This is a place which everyone will enjoy !!


Below are few more pictures taken by me at the Smoky Mountains.

Walk to Clingmans Dome

En-route to Smoky Mountains

Visitors center at the entrance of North Carolina

Walk to Clingmans Dome

Heart shaped clouds

Sunset view from Clingmans Done

Sunset view from Clingmans Done

Sunset view from Clingmans Done