I had a wake-up call for 5:00 am so I could get
everything done in time for the 6:30 am it out before I went down for
breakfast. Our tour director had managed
to get the dining room open at 5:30. We
headed to the airport and our plane left for Beijing around 9 am and arrived
around 11. The plan was to go to the
Summer Palace today. The reason was that
Beijing traffic is awful and it is on the way from the airport to the hotel,
which makes sense. We stopped at a
Ramada Hotel for lunch. It reminded me of
a Chinese banquette that I had attended years ago, when I was attending a
course when I worked at IBM. All 14 of
us sat around at circular table and there was a lazy susan on the table and
they kept putting various dishes on the table.
Interestingly there were no pork or shell fish dishes.
Where we had lunch
Bird's Nest - Stadium built for the Olympics
After lunch we headed for the Summer Palace. For the first time it actually rained when we
were out doing touristy things. I
decided to pull out my pancho and use it.
I probably could have gotten away with my hat and jacket. We got on a
dragon boat which took us to the other side of the lake. There was the marble boat built by the
Chinese Empress when the Navy requested ships.
There was a covered walk-way with paintings for the Emperor to view as
he walked along.
There was a store and I bought a bracelet,
for which I probably overpaid. Oh well,
that is my job.
Entering the Summer Palace
Dragon Boat in Summer Palace Lake
Lake in Summer Palace
Another View of Gate
Private paddle boats on lake
Pagoda and Temple from Dragon Boat
Pagoda and Temple from Dragon Boat
Pagoda and Temple from Dragon Boat
Pagoda and Temple from Dragon Boat
Marble Boat built in about 1900 by Chinese Empress
Note beautiful painting
Paintings on the walk-way
Roof of a part of walk-way ceiling
another view of the ceiling
View of Pagoda
Looking out at the lake
Another painting on the walk-way
Building - no idea what it is
Another view of the building
Pagoda
A Restaurant (I think?)
Roof at path intersection
Me with Lake in background
Me with Lake in background
Me with Lake in background
Pagoda as we are leaving
We arrived on the hotel around 5:00 pm with the rest
of the evening at leisure.
In Fairmount Hotel
I don’t know what everyone else is doing, but I’ve decided to have a very leisurely evening.
I don’t know what everyone else is doing, but I’ve decided to have a very leisurely evening.
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