June 5
by
mas900
—
last modified
Jun 11, 2014 03:06 PM
A visit to the Summer Palace
It’s our last week in Beijing and while we’ve seen
most of our list of tourist attractions, one still remains: the summer
palace. The previous night we arranged to meet in the lobby at ten, we
actually met at eleven. Close enough. Panos joined in as well and we
made our way to the subway. It was about a fourty minute journey, but
we’re used to it by now. Xiaru tried to use our PSU ID’s to get a
student discount for the entry ticket, but alas we had to pay sticker
price: about ten USD. Once through the gate, we passed under a large
wooden entryway decorated in the typical classical style. Wooden
structures painted orange-red with intricate blue, green, and gold
paintings of dragons as bordering. Roofs made of some sort of sculpted
tiling. It formed rows of glazed orange cylinders that ran down the
angled roofs. Each was capped with an engraving of a dragon. Through the
entry way was a white stone bridge which passed over a small river.
Around the river was a sunken town which hugged the water and was
spanned by the bridge. We would return later to lazily walk around
there, but now we pushed on. Past the bridge was a hill. Or a structure,
it was hard to tell. Large rocks and inclined ground were mixed about
with stone staircases, supporting walls, and buildings. At the top of
the hill we came to a small area. Ahead was a drop to a large temple. To
the left were paths through green grass. The temple was actually the
peak of a hill of buildings that dropped down to a large lake which
lined the bottom of the summer palace. The paths were seemly built for a
relaxing stroll. Surrounded by trees and grass, I was glad we came on
such a beautiful day. The path’s eventually came to more small towns and
stages. The palace was beautiful, tranquil, and complex. And I won’t
bore you with more details, but I will say it was my favorite place in
Beijing.