Thursday, August 20, 2009

Sim's Park, Coonoor.

Day1. Third and Final Stop.

Sim's Park was our last tourist attraction in the auto-rickshaw-guided-tour. I was never really interested to go to this place (botanical gardens are not my cuppa coffee) but apparently that's the only place we can go which is in close proximity to Coonoor Railway station. I would ideally have loved to visit places like Law's Falls or The Droog, but apparently they are not part of the rickshaw driver's package tour.
But before we entered Sim's Park we needed to attend to our growling stomach. Right next to Sim's Park is the Pomological Institute and the Pasteur Institute. But no you don't get food here. Between these two institutes is the Mahalakshmi Bhojanalay. The MB is run by a North Indian staff. The impressive menu has some 6 North Indian Thalis covering each state. When asked whats the food composition/difference between each of the Thalis, the waiter gave a sheepish smile and said they had only One North Indian Thali. Great. We ordered it nevertheless. The food was edible and nothing more to add about it.

So after a filling lunch (unlimited Rotis and Rice) we set out to Sim's Park. It was pretty much as we expected. A Botanical Garden! The speciality of this park is that it was established in 1874 by Mr. J.D. Sims (have no idea who that is...) and has a wide variety of Trees and covers some 12 acres. It has a lake inside it, where you can go boating and that's about it.

Not wanting to go back to the Hotel Room, we decided to walk aimlessly around the park. And that we did for about an hour or so until blanket worms started falling from the sky. But whatever time we spent there was worth the entry fee we paid ;-)
The quietness and greenery of the place soothes the mind and is very physically and emotionally relaxing. Do visit the Sim's Park only if you have enough time to kill while in Coonoor.
Must-Do: Buy an entry ticket ;-)
Must-Don't: Spoil the serenity and cleanliness of the place.
Caution: Blanket Worms falling from the sky.
My Rating: 4/10

No comments:

Post a Comment