Around the World

When we visited the  Sneh Rashmi Botanical Garden in Surat, Gujarat our joy knew no bounds on seeing the toy train, especially since we had missed riding the one at the Sayaji Baug in Vadodara which we had visited prior to our trip to Surat. The toy train, named Tapi Express, was a real treat, both to look at and its comfortable journey. I'm sure many of us had a toy train during our childhood and even likely that it was red! 

The  Sneh Rashmi Botanical Garden in Surat, Gujarat is not just a garden where you can spend a couple of hours roaming around a beautiful landscape with a huge variety of plants and flowers. To entertain kids, there is a fun zone, too, called 'The Great Fun Amusement Park', and don't miss travelling on the Tapi Express !

A visit to the city of Surat in the State of Gujarat, India gives you the rare opportunity of enjoying a vast (and a I mean really, really, vast) expanse of open space that is lush with greenery meticulously laid out beneath the gorgeous blue dome above. The place referred to is the Sneh Rashmi Botanical Garden in Surat which we visited last year in November.  The image on the left reflects our sheer joy and heaps of satisfaction we got on our trip to this garden. Compliments to the Surat Municipal Corporation for maintaining it so well. 

Here's a wonderful opportunity for Opera fans! The world-renowned Metropolitan Opera, New York is providing free streams of presentations from its earlier 'Live HD Series'. Each stream will be of a complete performance which featuring the best of the best of Opera singers, available totally free to watch through its official website. You can even access the performances through the Met Opera on Demand app.

After visiting Lakshmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara , we visited the Maharaja Fatehsingh Museum as well. This museum primarily has a vast (and I mean really vast) collection of paintings and sculptures. Perhaps you are the type who is not really interested in this kind of art, and would prefer to skip visiting the museum entirely and thus not buy the combo ticket of the Palace-Museum tour. However, I would encourage you to visit the museum because the detailing on the sculptures and in the paintings is extraordinary, not to mention some really beautiful artefacts. It is not surprising that this museum won the 'Best Museum' prize awarded by the Department of Tourism of Gujarat in a competition in 2017, with a well-curated collection on display.

From start to finish, I loved every bit of the audio-assisted tour of Lakshmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara. Established by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the chief architect of the Palace was Major Charles Mant and it was later completed by Robert Chisholm. Once you have bought your tickets and entered, y ou have to take the tour slowly, listening to the information of what is conveyed through the ear phones. Pause the device at will, so that you can look at what you have been told to look at, and absorb the information about it. Thus, if you are told ‘turn around’ or ‘look up at the ceiling’ or ‘look at the mosaic tiles on the floor’ that’s exactly what you do! There is no rewind button, mind you, so take your time to really enjoy the whole experience of it. Keep in mind that when the Palace was first opened to the public some years ago, there was no audio support, so make the most of it now.

The highlight of our trip to Vadodara (formerly Baroda) was the tour of Lukshmi Vilas Palace (the old British spelling of Lukshmi is used by the management) and its adjacent Maharaja Fatesingh museum. It was enhanced by the superb audio narration, leading us step by step on a tour of the Palace.  Of course, it was restricted to the ground floor only, since the members of the erstwhile royal family are residing on the upper floors. Nevertheless, it was a delightful tour and we enjoyed it from start to finish and no way should you miss out on it on your trip to Vadodara. It is worth every rupee of the entrance fee. Know the details of timings and entry tickets .