We were up at on the bus again this morning at 8 am! This morning we are headed for the Summer Palace. I've never been there and really looking forward to it. The Summer Palace is the last palace built by the Qing Dynasty (Empress CiXi). It is very beautiful, with a lake, shady trees, and several pavilions. There were people playing various musical instruments in one of the pavilions and people sat around to listen. We walked around the lake on one side and rode a dragon boat back to the beginning of the park. Once again, we were surrounded by vendors, selling the usual stuff. This time, I finally broke down and bought a Mao watch. Who could resist when they only wanted 30 RMB (approx $5.00)? Fans were another big seller, but the girls already had one.
There were some old men writing Chinese characters with a big calligraphy brush on the slate walkways. They offered the brushes to the girls to to try their hand at it. Several of the older girls wrote some characters on the slate. Sarah got up her nerve and wrote her Chinese name on the sidewalk. It was very beautiful and the man was very happy to see her work! She received many compliments on her beautiful handwriting!
After the Summer Palace it was off to the bus and to another group lunch! This time, a Thai restaurant! Once again, family style, lazy susan in the middle of the table, way too much food and not enough cold beverages! After lunch, it was off to CCCWA and BLAS to meet some of the people that worked on our adoption files, maybe even matched Samantha and me!
No comments:
Post a Comment