Monday, May
11, 2009
A DAY OF BEAUTY
Hi there everyone. Well, today can
best be described as our day of beauty – natural beauty. First,
we celebrated Emma’s birthday since Gregg goes back to the
States tomorrow. Then we took a trip to the Summer Palace , and
afterwards, we spent several hours at Bei Hai Park . I took over
90 photos just today – so you can imagine how hard it was to
pick just six to share!
First, the Summer Palace was the place where the Empress Dowager
Cixi would spend her summers from April through October. Who was
the Empress Dowager Cixi? Well, she reigned for over 50 years,
having started as a Manchurian maid turned favorite concubine of
the Emperor, before taking over as Empress of all China (quite
the story in itself). (She also named her nephew, Pu Yi, as
Emperor the day she died – Pu Yi was China ’s last Emperor,
coming into power at age 3, lasting in true power only 4 years
before a warlord unseated him. Its an interesting story, if
you’re ever interested in watching the movie, The Last Emperor.)
She didn’t build the palace, but she spent a lot of money
beautifying it, and she did a great job, to say the least. First
of all, the grounds are massive, and the positioning of temples,
residences, bridges, and walkways, all around man-made lakes are
truly breathtaking. It was very crowded today, so it was hard to
imagine what life was like when she had the whole area to
herself, but it wasn’t hard to see how absolutely beautiful the
entire place is. You could spend a full day from early morning
until evening, and you probably still couldn’t cover all the
grounds. We took some nice walks and a boat ride, and again,
Emma was quite the attraction with people lining up to take
photos of her.
Afterwards we went to Bei Hai Park , and I have to say that of
all the places we’ve seen in Beijing , this is probably one of
my favorites. There is a huge lake, walkways, willow trees,
beautiful flowers in colorful designs, pagodas, a Heavenly
Palace (Buddhist prayer area, if not a real temple), and people
singing. This is the also the location of the Nine Dragon Screen
(which in fact has 635 dragons). As we walked, we could hear
music as we watched the willow trees blowing – it was so
peaceful – and then we came upon the Five Dragon Pagoda where
people just gathered to sing, amidst a backdrop of more temples
and people boating. It was lovely.
It is amazing that Gregg leaves tomorrow – it signifies us
moving into the next stage of our trip here, and it makes me
already nostalgic for Beijing (even though the kids and I have
another 4 days left). But with all the walking we did, I’m
afraid I’m feeling a little sleepy, so I’ll spare you my
rambling thoughts on that for now.
Ethan is talking a up a storm (still in Mandarin of course), and
he has found his voice – he will enforce his will and he’ll yell
to be heard when he wants, and yes, we’ve seen a temper tantrum
or two, but its still all good. On the flip side, today I got a
kiss on the lips, a few hugs, and he learned how to do “cheers”
with his glass at dinner. He is definitely a 2-1/2 year old, but
he is a good boy - sweet and strong. I am looking forward to
bringing him home and starting our lives together there.
Off to bed for all of us; have a good day everyone.
Lots of love, the MacLarens |
One of the many Summer Palace views
Family by a Summer Palace Dragon Boat
Bei Hai Park
Five Dragon Pagoda
Nine Dragon Screen and kids |
