With traffic, driving anywhere in Beijing is quite time consuming. We rode for an hour to the Summer Palace. We were greeted with swarms of tourists -- much like Disney World … or worse. The crowds put a bit of a damper on some of the sites because it was so congested. However, we still were able to capture some great pictures. The Summer Palace was the summer residence for the emperors and empresses. The detail of all the architectural elements is incredible. Brilliant colors of red, blue, and yellow are very bold. The vegetation is beautiful -- many magnolias and cedars are planted and doing well. Our favorite part was the Tower of Buddhist Incense. It was on top of Longevity Hill. After countless stairs, we reached the top of the tower and got a great view of the palace grounds. And fewer people were up by the tower, which was an added bonus.
Summer Palace
After spending all morning at the Summer Palace, we ate lunch at another nice restaurant. Once again with numerous dishes that we couldn’t finish! It was delicious though. After lunch we needed more bottled water so headed over to a local supermarket. Such a great experience! It was totally different than any Wal-Mart or Dillon’s, yet, we had fun discovering some familiar brands. Once we all purchased some goodies, we hopped back on the bus and headed to the 2008 Olympics site.
We all had watched the Olympics in 2008 on TV, yet the TV did not do justice for projecting the scale of the buildings. In particular the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube were so much larger than we expected. We had the opportunity to go into the Bird’s Nest. It was incredible. The architecture of arching, extended lines is monumental, especially because the scale of the stadium is so expansive. The stadium is primarily steel construction with accents of red glass elements. While we were inside an equestrian tournament was taking place. We were reluctant to leave this cool place, but were excited to head on over to the Water Cube.
Bird's Nest
Before we reached the Water Cube, we crossed this grossly large hardscape plaza/promenade. It was huge -- probably 1,500 feet wide. The promenade extends north and south, creating an ordering axis for all the Olympic buildings. The Water Cube also was huge. A few of us went inside to see it. The Olympic pools were really exciting, but they were not in use. Swim lessons were being given at the time in the practice pools. A portion of the building where the high-dive warm-up pools were was altered after the Olympics. Now it is a waterpark open to the community -- and was being actively used while we were there.
Water Cube
Our last stop on the Olympic grounds was the Olympic Forest Park. It also was grand in scale, and we were becoming exhausted at this point from all the walking. So, we took advantage of an open-air tour bus system. It was a 20-minute ride around the park, allowing us to take a glimpse at all the highlights.
Olympic Forest Park
Next we took a trip over to Dr. Tea – a government owned tea shop. We were introduced to Beijing’s four traditional teas, and we sipped them all. Of course at the end, they wanted us to by something. And from the looks of it, we all did.
Tea!
To finish off our exciting day, we watched a show at the Chaoyang Theater. It was an acrobatic show, very similar to Cirque du Soliel. It was exciting and entertaining to watch, but we were definitely all feeling the ramifications of the day by the end.
We were dropped off back at our hotel around 9 p.m., ready to get something to eat. So, most everyone walked down to the Night Market to grab something to eat. The Night Market is a long corridor of food vendors. People tried noodles, fruit, dumplings, and much more.
The day was really long, yet very rewarding. We are ready for a good night’s sleep, but are looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure. Good night!
-- Sarah Craig
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