Summer Palace

I'm pretty tired but thought I would jot a few lines about our adventures today. We woke early and headed out to the Summer Palace in northwest Beijing. The skies were clear blue, not a cloud in sight, which was impressive as we had not yet seen the sun. The temps rose to about 27C which was a little warm at times, but there was plenty of shade and when that wasn't available, we did the Asian thing and popped open our umbrellas. It is a HUGE area! We must have walked about 15kms today, and my feet are crying for it. The Palace grounds were beautiful as were the many buildings. I started out with my small Canon camera only to have the battery die on me, despite bringing it to full charge before leaving last week. I had to rely on my iphone then as I hadn't brought my SLR with me as it too was also dead...dammit. I had also charged that before I left, and used it just at the Ming Dyasty Tombs. In any event, the iPhone takes pretty good photos and the panoramic feature is just amazing, so I have some awesome panoramic shots. 

We arrived at the Summer Palace and paid for the multi venue ticket so we could see it all. The buildings are so very ornate, and colorful, it was a delight to the senses. There was also significant greenspace around the complex which provided lovely shade, and peaceful surroundings. We climbed hundreds of stairs, if not thousands throughout the course of the day! Our thighs and calves are also crying. There were many museums of artifacts, some dating back to 1600BC, which is mind blowing. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite that old. I think one of my favorite parts was Suzhou Street, which is an old street that runs around a small lake, with narrow walkways and NO guardrails between you and the steep drop to the water! For this reason, they ask tourists to go in one direction only. We did a bit of shopping and then decided on some lunch at one of the little cafes there. We were not too adventurous, and ordered pork meatballs and rice. The dish came with seaweed as well, which was a bit rubbery and weird to eat so we left it on the plate. 

After lunch we decided on a boat tour of the small lake and the bigger lake which took about 45 minutes. It was a lovely tour, met a nice Chinese family who were quite entertaining. The boat tour ended at another part of the huge complex so we then had a fair bit of walking to do to get to the signature Buddhist temple, along with many stairs...pant pant pant. My puffer got a workout for sure. Thankfully I brought two brand new ones with me. Once we arrived at the top of where you could go, we were afforded the most stunning view of Beijing. It was breathtaking. Tomorrow we head to the Forbidden City!