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Brigade Road, near central Bangalore, is one of the city's most important commercial areas. This bustling high-street, linking Mahatma Gandhi Road with Hosur Road and Residency Road, is one of the leading shopping hubs in the city with many prestigious brands with international recognition selling their wares along this route. Brigade Road is also home to a number of restaurants purveying a range of international cuisine, including Italian, Chinese, North Indian and South Indian food. Vibrant New Year's celebrations are also held on this road and often draw jubilant crowds of revelers. Visiting this thriving, cosmopolitan commercial area is enough to remind one that Bangalore is India's most modern city.
The Bengaluru Palace was bought from the Reverend John Garrett, a principle of the Central High School in Bangalore and Wesleyan minister, by Chamarajendra Wadiyur X, Maharaja of Mysore, in 1884. The property was then expanded into a palatial complex by its new royal owners, with lavish gardens and a grand building inspired by Tudor and Victorian Gothic architecture that is said to have been inspired by Windsor Castle in England. In recent times the palace was acquired by Prince Srikanta Wadiyar, member of the Mysore royal family, who brought the palace back into his family's ownership and began renovating the property in order to turn it into a tourist attraction and boost the local economy.
The Gavi Gangadhareshwara temple, thought to have been constructed in the ninth century, is one of the most mysterious, sacred and awe-inspiring locations in Bangalore. This prime example of Hindu rock-cut architecture is situated in a cave and dedicated to Lord Shiva. Features of the temple include a Nandi sculpture near the entrance, stone disks in the forecourt, four pillars, an image of the fire-god Agni and a Lingam representing Shiva enshrined inside. Twice a year, during important dates of the solar calendar in January and between November and December, a sunbeam moves across the temple-floor to illuminate the Shiva Lingam.