Anyway, today is officially my last day in Beijing, tonight we will hop onto a sleeper train and travel to the city of Xi'an. I could write about a one hundred page novel on everything I've seen and done in this city. But I don't really think that anyone wants to read it. So, instead, I will post a bunch of pictures and some of the key highlights!
The old Summer Palace, which was destroyed by the French and British during the Opium Wars.
The old Summer Palace was internationally known for combining Western and Eastern design elements, into an architecturally stunning complex. This is located at the very center of a stone maze.
Every stone surface was beautifully carved, and there were so many wonderful trees planted throughout the grounds.
This is the new Summer Palace. It is absolutely huge, and amazing. What you can't see in this picture is the giant lake and grounds in front of the building and several temples located behind the building.
Behind the Summer Palace was a stunning Buddhist temple, which was completely covered in dozens of these ceramic sculptures.
This is at a local temple and stone carving museum that Natalie and I stumbled across on our first day together.
The courtyard was filled with giant statues of animals and important historical figures.
There were also countless slabs of stone inscribed with famous sayings, government reports, and obituaries for some of the priests buried there.
And finally, the Great Wall. No picture can truly give you an idea of how truly massive this structure is. It is absolutely mind boggling that the ancient Chinese managed to build such a huge structure on some of the roughest terrain in the world, using limited technology.
Obviously, this not all I've been up to. The next post will contain even more pictures and descriptions, and I will have that up just as soon as I finish editing the photos.
looks like you are having a wonderful time!!! I'm glad!!! :o)
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