The Summer Palace was the summer getaway for the many emporers that ruled in Beijing. It is a very vast park with a huge lake and many, many buildings and temples. It was beautiful and very mystical the day that we went because of some fog. When you are inside, it is hard to believe that the park is located in Beijing city with 20 million people surrounding it. It seems like you are out in the countryside instead.
We decided to take a motor boat ride with Jeff as our boat captain. Jack and Grace were both at school this day, so it was just the four of us. We didn't know if we were going to make it back to the dock without being towed because our battery operated boat was loosing juice fast. We were traveling at turtle pace by the time we floated back.
Jeff and I had actually never been to the Summer Palace before either. One time we tried to go with the kids thinking it would be a great place to take bikes. But, the day we went was so crowded that there was no getting around in there with bikes and our children turned out to be more of the spectacle than the location itself. So, we left that day, but knew we wanted to come back.
Check out these gorgeous lillipads!! They were very tall, I didn't know that lillypads grow out of the lakes like that.
This man is writing Chinese characters with water on the walkway. I think you can actually pay him to personally teach you and let you try.
This was a huge MARBLE boat that the emporers would take out on the lake. It was beautiful and had intricate artwork, colors, and engravings that I couldn't quite capture with a camera.
Here's Jeff and my Aunt Linda walking ahead of us as we left. They get along really well! We are so amazed that these two older (NOT OLD) women would travel around the world together, having never been out of the U.S.A. What an adventurous spirit they both had! We were impressed at their courage! They also did amazingly well with the jetlag and time difference. They didn't even skip a beat!
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