Summer Palace and Travel to Xi'an

After the long day yesterday, we got to start late today. We didn't leave the hotel until 10:30 AM. This gave us time to sleep in a little and to to pack, because we were traveling later in the day.

The first stop today was the Summer Palace. This is basically a place to entertain the Emperor during the summer. It inculdes a man-made lake for his pleasure and to grow fresh water pearls. Also there is an 800 meter covered walk way for when it is raining. This walk way is covered with over 8,000 different works of art, so the Emperor could still have something beautiful to look at on those rainy days.

Our tour consisted of walking along the covered path, then a nice lunch inside the Palace Grounds and finally a ride on a Dragon Boat across the lake, back to the starting point.





After our tour of the Summer Palace, we were taken to the airport an hour away. We waited there a couple of hours till our place left (on time), spent two hours in the air and then another hour bus ride to the hotel where we arrive after 10:00 PM. Needless to say, we all slept late.