We left the hotel at 8.30am but any attempts to miss the
morning traffic were futile. It took us another hour to get across the city to
reach the Summer Palace.
On a glorious
sunny Saturday it looked as most of the 27 million in Beijing had brought their
families out for a summer walk and a picnic.
I don’t think I have ever seen so many people walking around.
The Summer Palace was were the emperors went to get away
from the Forbidden City. In those days there was a water axis which joined the
two but this is no longer there.
In the
18
th Century emperor Qianlong considerably enlarged the quarter and
deepened and expanded the lake, known as Kunming Lake. The area has a turbulent
history of being destroyed and rebuilt with a major restoration by Empress
Dowager Cixi in the late 1800s.
The Lake
which takes up ¾ of the park was a real highlight.
It was a pleasure to walk around underneath
the magnificent white magnolia trees in full blossom, to watch old men writing
ancient characters, to view the various temples adorned with bronze animal
statues and generally to be outside on a sunny spring day.
Another attraction was the Long Corridor -its
750 m length being adorned with paintings throughout.
Passing through this and walking further
around the Lake took us to Cixi’s marble boat. It was never meant to sail but
its stone effect acted as a deterrent to vandalism.
From here we caught a ‘Dragon Boat’ which
took us across the Lake for our final viewing of the Park.
Walking away from the Summer Palace we met up with our coach
driver who drove us across town to a restaurant so that we could experience the
Peking Duck. This is a speciality of Beijing.
This was a
wonderful meal consisting of many dishes including duck, fish, chicken, pork, a
spicy aubergine dish and still more.
This was our last meal in Beijing and we dined like emperors.
Feeling to full to move and a little sleepy
from the wine we headed out to the Olympic Stadium.
This gave us all a chance to see the Birds Nest stadium, the Cube – where the swimming and diving was held and to generally
appreciate the space and development that was the Olympic Park.
We only had 40 minutes here as we needed to
head off to the airport to fly to Xi’an – our next city.
We left the hotel at 8.30am but any attempts to miss the
morning traffic were futile. It took us another hour to get across the city to
reach the Summer Palace. On a glorious
sunny Saturday it looked as most of the 27 million in Beijing had brought their
families out for a summer walk and a picnic.
I don’t think I have ever seen so many people walking around.
The Summer Palace was were the emperors went to get away
from the Forbidden City. In those days there was a water axis which joined the
two but this is no longer there. In the
18th Century emperor Qianlong considerably enlarged the quarter and
deepened and expanded the lake, known as Kunming Lake. The area has a turbulent
history of being destroyed and rebuilt with a major restoration by Empress
Dowager Cixi in the late 1800s. The Lake
which takes up ¾ of the park was a real highlight. It was a pleasure to walk around underneath
the magnificent white magnolia trees in full blossom, to watch old men writing
ancient characters, to view the various temples adorned with bronze animal
statues and generally to be outside on a sunny spring day. 
Another attraction was the Long Corridor -its
750 m length being adorned with paintings throughout. Passing through this and walking further
around the Lake took us to Cixi’s marble boat. It was never meant to sail but
its stone effect acted as a deterrent to vandalism. 
From here we caught a ‘Dragon Boat’ which
took us across the Lake for our final viewing of the Park.
Walking away from the Summer Palace we met up with our coach
driver who drove us across town to a restaurant so that we could experience the
Peking Duck. This is a speciality of Beijing. This was a
wonderful meal consisting of many dishes including duck, fish, chicken, pork, a
spicy aubergine dish and still more.
This was our last meal in Beijing and we dined like emperors. 
Feeling to full to move and a little sleepy
from the wine we headed out to the Olympic Stadium. This gave us all a chance to see the Birds Nest stadium, the Cube – where the swimming and diving was held and to generally
appreciate the space and development that was the Olympic Park. We only had 40 minutes here as we needed to
head off to the airport to fly to Xi’an – our next city.
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