Bangalore, officially known as Bengaluru, is the capital city of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a Pensioner’s Paradise. 

This trip would not have been completed without spending quality time with Palak, my college best friend :). We started off the day with discussion over bigger goals in life and ended up on makeup πŸ˜› The conversation took a sharp turn and here’s what followed it-

Me: Which is the best BB cream?

Palak: You should give Body shop BB cream a try. Btw, what is trending in Delhi these days?

and so on … Excuse us for a while, we will be back in a moment wink*

I just forget to mention here about my first encounter with Tyra; Palak and Rohit’s first baby Dog !! Palak was excited about me meeting her but on the contrary whole time during my stay at her place, I was bouncing here and there just to avoid her πŸ˜€

City Walk

At around 1 PM, we called off our discussion and went on for a city walk as planned. There was nothing quite like exploring this lovely, sprawling city by foot. On the way, I saw some of the grandest and most spectacular Tech Parks of our country. It is no exaggeration to say the city as the “Silicon Valley of India”  because of its role as the nation’s leading Information Technology exporter.

Mirror groupfie

Blossom Bookhouse

We strolled around the Church street and Palak keep on explaining to me which place is famous for what? Our immense love for books took us to a Blossom Bookhouse, a bookshop that houses between 200,000 and 300,000 titles. Amazing! isn’t it? We had spent almost 2 hours, though it appeared only the sliver amount of time I could have spent there.

bollosmbookstore.jpg

Church Street Social

A prison-themed cafe that blends the best of office and cafe whilst offering delicious food

It’s a space where artists meet designers, innovators meet entrepreneurs, photographers and writers meet web developers. In a nutshell, where creativity with immense ideas meets cutting-edge technology. I didn’t get a chance to check out this place but I did like this idea of urban hangout.  We too need similar space in Delhi NCR, what say?

Church Street
Church Street Social

Hoppipolla

This cafe is known for the concept of eat, play and drink.

conversation

And we landed up here, a colorful place with really young ambiance and high energy. The ceiling looked really beautiful during the daytime. Besides, the foot-tapping music in the background added to the charm of this place. We ordered pizza and corn chaat with Orange passion frappe.

Recommendations: One can easily grab moderately price drinks in here and their thin crust pizza are definitely a must try.

Corner House

“No meal is complete without something sweet”, I said this to Palak and straightway she took me to this place, The Corner House. We ordered the iconic Death by Chocolate(DBC). The taste was pure bliss! That sinful combination of vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake, topped with cherries, peanuts, honey & chocolate sauce was beyond words. This is how I found my new love on the streets of Banglore!!

Burrrrrp !!!

we even enjoyed our chit-chats whilst relishing the ice-cream. I really wanted to try all of their signature dishes. On this, my tummy responded, “Next time, please”!

Recommendations: Hot chocolate fudge, death by chocolate, banana split, Cake-a-Mocha, crispy chocolate malt and Earl’s secret brownie 

Shopping

No holiday would be complete without something slightly inconvenient to fit into the luggage, after all! I saw this shop- Cauvery Handicrafts Emporium at the vantage point on the MG road. There was everything from wood carvings (sandalwood and imitation),  home decors, metal objects, incense sticks and what not? I bought a lot of stuff like sandalwood sachets to keep in closets, Incense sticks, Sandalwood soaps and oil.

Recommendation: This is a great place (little expensive) to stop in if you’re looking for souvenirs. 

handicraft

The obvious

Don’t get me started on the obvious, I meant the weather, of course. The city is blessed with salubrious climate throughout the year. When the rest of the country is trying to figure out ways to escape the scorching heat, Bangaloreans are busy enjoying a walk in the drizzle. Jealous enough?

What to know before you go

  • Road Crossing: One should be very cautious while crossing roads and places where traffic lights are scarce. Many of the local drivers do not stop for pedestrians unless they cannot avoid hitting them
  • Taxi Drivers: Do not trust your taxi drivers or tourist guides too much. Always maintain a safe personal distance from them
  • Airport: It’s located 40 kilometers (25 miles) away from the city center. The travel time to the airport is between one and two hours, depending on traffic. Start three or more hours before your flight timings
  • Safety: Bangalore is a relatively safer and liberal in its attitude compared to many Indian cities, resulting in better treatment of women and less staring. However, be careful of pickpockets in tourist areas
  • Famous Parks: Cubbon ParkBannerghatta Biological ParkLalbagh Botanical Garden, JP Park
  • Pubs and breweries: Banglore is indeed the pub city of the nation. Some of the best places are  Monkey Bar, Prost Brew Pub, Toit Brewpub, The 13th Floor, Skyye, High and District 6

Final words

Awesome weather, best company, great food, luxurious stay and the lazy pace of the vacation made it a perfect extended weekend gateway for us. I really loved Bangalore and its weather but I still love Delhi more. It’s time to get back to the place I belong to…

Let us know how do you like the post by commenting below. You can also visit my previous post on Ooty and Coonoor.

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