The Summer Palace

Wandering around the Summer Palace is listed as one of the highlights to cross off your list in the Lonely Planet guidebook.  It's a mile to walk to the subway station, but luckily Father looked up the bus schedule, which is right outside our condo.  The tickets are around $5 for just the entrance or $10 all inclusive pass.

Brotherly Love at the entrance

As soon as we walked in, I was quite impressed by the view.  It was a little smoggy today, but it was beautiful nonetheless.  First, we checked out some artifacts made of jade, bronze, and miscellaneous items.  There was no photography sign but so many ignored the sign, Chinese and Westerners alike.  I thought the artifacts were pretty to look and interesting to read about, but the Brothers were getting a little bored.  We quickly got a move on it and made our way to another section of the palace.

In front of the Paifang Gate.  Anybody who has been to Epcot in Disney will recognize this!

We took quick looks at the 17-arch bridge from afar, looked at some of the preserved buildings and checked out this Paifang Gate, which, according to Father, has a replica in Disney Word Epcot's China.  By now, our selfie stick was now out of commission, unfortunately.  We also took a look at the beautiful, three-story theater that is the biggest theater in China, a fun fact.  

Can't even get the whole theater in the picture!

 Next, we strolled down the Long Corridor, which is about half a mile long. The paintings in the corridor, while a bit faded, were still very pretty and interesting to look at.  There were also some lily-pad ponds not to far for the corridor which were very pretty and I got a quick look at.  After that, we went to see the Tower of Buddhist Incense.   

View from resting point

Climbing up the many stairs was tiring since we were already a little worn out, but we took frequent breaks, so I was fine.  The view from the top of the temple (not really the top, just the highest point we were allowed to go to), we took an even longer break.  Inside, there was a three story sculpture of Avalokitesvara.  There were many people bowing and throwing money at the sculpture, which confused the Brothers until I explained what the sculpture is.

Once we were rested enough, we decided it was time to go.  So we went through the exit at the top and began to head over to another attraction, Longevity Hill.  It was quite tiresome, walking down that rocky hill, so it took a while.  

Panorama from the top

The view was really nice form the top of the hill, but it was so hot, all of us were covered in sweat. Once we got to the bottom, we took a quick look at Suzhou Street, left the palace and took the bus home.  Once we got near our condo, Mother suggested we buy some pastries at a bakery nearby.  She loves the "Paris Baguette" in Korea and there was a sore named "Holiland" that was promising.  Altough it was good, it wasn't quite up to par.  Our search for a good bakery continues...

Suzhou St. (very similar to Riverwalk in San Antonio last summer)