India

                                                         
On the car ride to Dulles Airport I read the Hunger Games. At the airport I put my luggage in the Security Check, I walked through the Security Check and went on the airplane. In the airplane I watched movies and slept Then we went to the Frankfurt Airport. After that we went on the plane to Bangalore Air port. Bangalore is in the southern part of India.

 I found India different than America in five ways:
- There are automobiles called Auto Rickshaw.
- Kids can ride on Motorcycles.
- You don't have to wear a seat belt
- The Southern part of India is warm.
- We use big rocks to wash our clothes


                                                           Mysore
Mysore is 100 miles from Bangalore. I visited the zoo there. I saw tigers, elephants, birds, snakes, rhinos, and lions. Most of the animals were sleeping because it was hot. I saw some new animals that I have never seen before.
- I saw a King Cobra-it was 15 feet long and black in color with its hood open.
- I saw three Anacondas - they were about 10 feet long and black in color. The zoo got five but two of them died because the weather was too hot
- I saw a Chameleon - it was green in color

I went to the palace. I felt very excited. I got to see what the princes and princess played with when they were kids. I also got to see what musical instruments they had. They had saxophones and veenas. A veena is an Indian string instrument. To play it you need to set it on your lap and you pull the strings, like a guitar. The palace was rebuilt in 1912 because the old palace was burned down. An extension was built in 1940. In 1969 the government took over the palace and opened it to the public. The architect was Henry Iruin.

I went to the Golden Temple established by the Dalai Lama. The Golden Temple is a Tibetan monastery but we were not it Tibet it was in a place called Bylakuppe in Karnataka. It was set up to support the Tibetan community that was displaced from Tibet. When we entered the Temple we saw large statues of Buddha. After visiting the temple we went to a park where I went on a toy train. I have never ridden a toy train. I was very happy to ride a toy train. During the car ride back to Mysore, I saw a lot of coffee plantations.

I got to celebrate Diwali. I burst the spinning wheel. A spinning wheel is a sparkling top. I also got to light a sparkler. I had a wonderful day. We light candles because it drives the evil spirits away and brings the good spirits. We celebrate Diwali because it is when Lord Rama came back to Ayodhya after spending fourteen years in a forest as promised to his father. Diwali is two weeks long.

                               
                                                                     Chitradurga

I travelled to Chitradurga.  Chitradurga is 225 miles from Mysore. There I visited a fort. It was built in the 1700's. Unlike other forts in India this one had a natural bolder boundaries. There is a legend that lives till today about a women named Obavva. She was the wife of a soldier. One day when her husband was eating and she was taking his place she heard whispers. She got a pestle and as the enemy soldiers popped out of a hole she would hit them and pull out the bodies. When her husband came back he saw a bloodied pestle in her hand and a pool of bodies. Although the fort eventually fell to the enemies, she was hailed as a hero.