Back to Bangalore

I woke up Monday morning to the sounds of a band at 6:45am! There was a lot of percussion so it sounded like a marching band. I looked out the window but all I could see was the parking lot. I did see some folks peering down the driveway of the hotel so I assumed it was one of the many festivals they have here. We checked out and our baggage was loaded into the car. Ramesh wouldn't let me get in though. He was pointing to an area behind the car. There was a huge banner announcing a wedding and the wedding was taking place just inside. We were invited in and offered tiffen (snacks) and coffee or tea. We politely declined and tried to take an unobtrusive spot in the back. I was so disppointed that my camera batteries died just after we got there, but I was able to get a couple of shots before that. The bride and groom are on the right, with the groom facing the camera and the bride in yellow. It was a very lovely ceremony. We didn't stay long because we still had to see Mysore Palace before going back to Bangalore.

Mysore Palace was beautiful--and huge! Ramesh took me to the Palace grounds where I was able to take a few photos, but no cameras were allowed inside the Palace. What a shame! I paid my admission, and dropped my shoes off at the shoe stand and made my way into the Palace. I was offered a private tour by an approved guide "Only 45 minutes and you will hear much history!" I opted for the self tour and was glad I did. I could freely wander (within the ropes) the Palace interior. I love the stained glass dome! The sun was at just the right angle to illuminate it beautifully. Some of the panels reminded me of peacock feathers. I just wish I had my camera! Oh well. I will have to keep this memory in my brain and not my computer. We'll see how that goes!


Before we left Mysore we had to hit the Silk Emporium! Everyone there was eager to wait on us and 2 guys were actually fighting over us. We went with the 3rd guy who wasn't as combative as the other 2. He was pulling out all colors and styles of scarves. Everything was so beautiful, it was hard to choose. I finally narrowed it down to 4. I also bought a nice, comfortable, cool shirt (I'm not sure of the specific kind) that I wore out of the store.



We stopped at Eagleton Golf Village, which was about a kilometer off the main road, so I could pick up a couple of items for Steve. I got you covered, honey! The golf village is fairly new, with new houses going up all around. Sounds like home! The club house was very large and stately. Lots of marble and columns. I asked the reception desk for the Pro Shop and they directly down the stairs and around the back. The Pro Shop was not as stately, but had everything I needed to make my golfer back home very happy. I only got a glimpse of the course, but it looked very nice.


Of course, not road trip is complete without a little car drama. We had a flat tire, but were soon on our way after Ramesh quickly changed it. We had seen disabled vehicles along the road before, and were marked with rocks, similar to our cones, to warn other drivers. He had it changed out before I had a chance to find any rocks to lay out.



Back at IBM the class was exited to hear about our weekend. He hit the high points and got to work. We have added our IBM team members to ITSM and created incidents for each one of them for account access. LA has already started creating acounts for them. Suresh told me that the Mac hardware has arrived and he would like to go over Macs on Tuesday. I agreed, but still have lots of work to do. I would like to create handouts or some kind of documentation for our team, most of which have never worked on a Mac. I looked forward to introducing them to the wonderful world of Macintosh. There is still Knowledge Base to update and Orlando tools to cover. LA is going live for some calls next week. I am glad we still have a bit of time!



Until next time, here's hoping I get this washing machine figured out!