Relaxing weekend in Bangalore!

Last Thursday was a very successful day at the lab! We finally broke a sample!! We have had some delays because the Instron machine was installed late, we had to get trained and we has some other prep work to do. But we performed a tensile test on sample one! The sample experienced some slipping at the grips during the tests so we are going to test another virgin sample and increase the grip pressure so that we will get more accurate data. This week we will also make sure that we impact all of the samples before we have to go home so they are all impacted using the same method. 

Saturday morning we headed to Bangalore! Our flight left Chennai at 6am so it was an early morning after the 45ish minute taxi ride to train station. The seat next to me on the train was empty so I was able to put my feet up and sleep a little which was good.

Train to Bangalore

 We arrived in Bangalore just after 11am. Our professor Dr. Haq has a brother in law that lives in Bangalore so he was nice enough to come and meet us at the train station and help us get to our hotel. He was at the wrong train station so we sat outside the train station and waited for him. We were a cool thing to see for locals, everyone who passed seither starred at us as tehy walked by or stopped and starred. We are used to this by now though. After settling in at our hotel we ventured out for lunch. Hearing there was a Taco Bell only a block away we decided to eat there. I got a cheese quesadilla and a chocodilla. They were both very good.

Taco Bell

 After lunch Tim, Caroline and I headed out to explore. We grabbed an auto to the Bangalore Turf City which is a horse race track. We just wanted to see it but upon arriving were happy that there were races happening. We grabbed a ticket and headed in. The next race started five minutes after we found some seats, almost like we planned it. The horses walked out and then took a practice half lap and lined up. The start was on the opposite side of the course but we heard the gun shot and they were off. The crowd began to cheer and we all stood up. People were everywhere. The horses went by so fast it was hard to see them but we could tell it was neck and neck between horse 5 and horse 6.

Horse Race at Turf Club in Bangalore

Horse 6 ended up winning. It was a fun atmosphere and I was happy to have seen my first horse race!

Horse Race at Turf City in Bangalore

After the race we headed to a museum in the area. We told our auto driver the science museum but he took us to the national art museum. We decided to just see that one. The tickets were a bit pricy so we just wandered where we could on the property. We ended up at the back entrance to the museum where you didn't need a ticket to get in so we walked through the museum. There were some cool pieces inside and good galleries. We couldn't take any pictures inside but outside there was a garden area and walkway which was nice to walk through.

In the garden of National Art Museum

Driving an auto!!

Our auto driver told us we should see Parliament so we were like sure! We were not allowed inside but seeing the architecture from the outside.

Outside Parliament in Bangalore, India

We then drove by the Bangalore Palace. It is quite pricy to get into the palace so we opted out of going inside. We then headed to dinner at The Windsor Pub. We made it there just as it started to rain so we were thankful we did not get wet. Saturday was Caroline 21st birthday so we split a pitcher of beer as her first legal drink! I ordered an egg sandwich and when I clarified what it was the waiter said scrambled egg on bread. I was like okay cool! It then came out as a sliced/smashed hard boiled egg with mayonnaise. The waiter has an interesting definition of scrambled egg. It was not too bad but was not too great either haha After dinner we headed to Biere Club to grab some drinks. Evan and Bob met us there and we hung out. The Biere Club brews their own beer so it was good beer.

Celebrating Caroline 21st Birthday

Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the Bannerghatta National Park. The park was a 45 minute drive from our hotel. We arrived at 8:45am and joined the line that was already forming to get tickets. The ticket counter opened at 9am. We chose the right line and first to get tickets! WE headed in and after another 30 minutes of waiting we boarded the safari bus. The safari drove through the exhibits of animals and we were able to see elephants, lions, tigers, white tigers and bears. Some animals were off in the distance while others walked right up to the bus.

Lion in the Safari

White Tiger in the safari

After the safari we went to the zoo. There were all sorts of animals in the zoo. I was able to touch and elephant which was cool It had long black hair and was weird to touch.

Elephant in the zoo at National Park

On the way home from the park we grabbed food at the hard Rock Cafe. I got potato skins which were very good! And I went all out and got a chocolate brownie sunday! It was delicious!

Hard Rock Cafe in Bangalore

We rested up at the hotel after lunch. We met up with our friend at Toit Restaurant for dinner. I got the best pizza I have here! It was nice to just relax for the evening.

Delicious Margarita Pizza

Monday we had a tour at GE in Bangalore. After a long confusing drive there, we were able to tour a handful of labs on the campus. The campus was beautiful with grass fields, lots of trees and it was clean. It was nice to hear about research projects happening there and learn more about the work life here in India. We took a bus back to Chennai that night and arrived in Chennai just after 6am!

Overall it was a very relaxing weekend. The weather was much cooler than Chennai which was nice. Our auto driver Saturday night was wearing a coat! It was around 75 degrees F. This week in Chennai it is a bit cooler with the highs being around 90-92. Caroline and I are making progress with our project. It is weird to think I only have a few days left in Chennai. It seems like it was just last week that we arrived but we have been here for almost 5 weeks now.

This saturday we are headed to Delhi adn plan to stay there until Wednesday night. Thursday will be my last day in Chennai! Thursday night I fly from Chennai to Frankfurt. Friday I will catch a flight to Paris from Frankfurt and meet up with my TopDeck Tour group! I will then tour Europe for eleven days! I am getting more and more excited about this as it gets closer. I loved Europe last summer and didn't think that I would have the opportunity to visit again so soon! After seeing Europe I will have a night in London with a friend from High School and then I fly home July 30. These next three weeks are going to fly by and I am going to be able to see some magnificent things from the Taj Mahal in New Delhi to the Eiffel Tower in Paris to riding a gondola in Venice. I will try to post after Delhi before Europe but I am unsure if I will have access to internet while in Europe. For now I am finishing up our project in the NDE Lab at IIT.

I hope that you are enjoying your summer wherever you are spending it!