This was the place that the royals would go to cool off in the heat of the summer. It has a huge hill (Longevity Hill) and a lake (Kunming Lake) that encompasses most of the grounds. One of our favorite parts was the 18 buddas and the 3 huge buddas in the first big temple we went to. Each budda was completely lifelike and different and seemed to show different parts of the human condition. Though this is the SUMMER palace, it is pretty chilly, so chilly in fact that the entire lake froze over! Now, we saw signs everywhere that said “Don’t go on the Ice.” However, it was in stark contrast to the 50 to 100 people walking across the frozen lake at any given time. So of course, we joined in the fun! We also really enjoyed the beautiful long paintings on the Long Corridor. They are repainted every few years to keep their luster. It was amazing how they just kept going and going and going...
By far, however, our favorite part of the Summer Palace was ice sledding on the frozen man-made river in the “downtown” area. The Empress was not allowed to go shopping like normal folks, but wanted to get a feel of daily life among the commoners. It reminded us of a medieval town that would have been made for a Renaissance Faire or something. Though not realistic and even aided in her becoming even more out of touch with her subjects, it was a cute little area and we had fun! We basically just sat on a box and pushed ourselves around with 2 metal prongs. We were the only ones on the ice, and we could get moving fast! Mike took a couple dumps, but hey, that’s all in the fun! It was so unexpected, and that just added to the enjoyment.
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