Summer Palace

Here we are at The Summer Palace. The weather was so beautiful, 70s and sunny (much better than the 30-40 degrees we left!) The buildings and grounds were lovely, but the best part was the pretty Kunming lake and Nanhu island. We just so enjoyed being outside in this beautiful place.

I liked this view of the Old in front and New behind. Beijing was HUGE. If you kept turning to the left, there were buildings and buildings as far over as the eye could see.

We climbed quite a few stairs to the top of this lovely Hall of Benevolence and Longevity. 

17 Arch Bridge had, not surprisingly, 17 arches and these great guardians: 544 lions with unique faces and postures.

This was my first photo request of the trip, the younger girl asked and there was an older third woman too (maybe three generations?). We were surprised that everywhere we went, aside from the Great Wall, we were almost the only foreigners we saw. Almost everyone we saw at the places we visited were Chinese people, maybe from other parts of China?

This is the Long Corridor was about half a mile long, entirely covered in beautiful artwork.