"Queen of Hill Stations"

So this evening at precisely 9:03 pm (seriously, that's what the bus ticket says) D and I will be leaving on a bus for our the oh-so-long-9-hour journey to Ooty. You know that "hill" which stands 2,240m (approx 7400ft) above sea level where I went to school for five beautiful years and just can't get enough of? We decided to take advantage of the long weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) for Easter and head up to Ooty for some girl-time!

Here are some quick Ooty-facts for you:

- Ooty is situated in the Nilgiris (which means Blue Mountains) of the state of Tamil Nadu.

- The Tamil name for Ooty is Udagamandalam.

- It was described as and "Queen of Hill Stations" by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (who was the first prime minister of independent India).

- The Niligiris were part of the Kingdom of Mysore of Tipu Sultan (Fernhill Palace was the erstwhile summer residence of the Maharaja) before he surrendered it to the British in the 18th century.

- Ooty was first brought to the public eye by John Sullivan, Collector of Coimbatore district in 1819 and was used as a popular summer and weekend getaway for the Britishers in the colonial days.

- The only route to the Nilgiris from Coimbatore until 1932 was a bridle path up the hill which took a period of 2 years to complete starting 1821.

- The first Coonoor ghat road was laid in 1932 thanks to the then Governor S.R. Lushington (does that name ring a bell Hebronites? Lushington Hall is the name of Hebron's main campus).

- The British took up the monumental task of connecting Mettupalyam (a.k.a. Metty) to Ooty by rail in 1880. The work was completed in 1899 (which is also the year that Hebron School, then Lushington Boys' School, was established!) The railway track STILL exists and is functional even today, more than a hundred years later.

- The Government Botanical Gardens in Ooty was laid out in 1847 by John Sullivan and covers about 22 hectares.

- The rose garden situated in Ooty has (apparently) the largest collection of roses in the country.

Sources: Ooty.com and Wikipedia!