The last empress
(The new Empress in the Summer Palace: Beijing, China)
A day at the Summer Palace began with a two hour tour with a local guide that we shared with an Australian couple who were on the same subway train as we were. The Summer Palace became dauntingly vast after we passed the first few opening courtyards – there is a huge lake, hills with distant pagodas, temples on mounts and even an island with an arched bridge. Whilst the Forbidden City feels like, well, a city, the Summer Palace has the trappings of a whole miniature world in a way.
Although it blossomed into an evening of golden late afternoon sunlight, for most of the day we were under grey skies and occasional smatterings of rain. Auntie Jane had brought her waterproof, I had my umbrella and mum seemed to have cling-filmed herself in an attempt to stay dry. We also discovered that her shoes appear to grip any surface except wet marble. I’m sure I don’t need to indicate that almost all the Summer Palace steps are marble, and as you can see from this image, the steps were indeed doused in rainwater. Thankfully a dutiful slave materialised in the form of Mateo, a very pleasant young man who attached himself to our tour a few minutes before the end. We four stayed together for the remainder of the afternoon, possibly because he made himself very useful to the goofball sisters (most importantly) but we had a similar itinerary and he also provided interesting conversation opportunities. I have enjoyed this day for its simplicity and wholesomeness – the Summer Palace has a more pleasant ambiance than the ‘forbidding’ city, many more furnished and elaborately painted rooms, music and dance performances and pleasure boat rides. It really felt like a mini holiday outing from a longer hectic holiday.
Mateo, if you read this – if you were born before Jan 24th 1982, you’re a rooster and after that, you’re a dog.
By the way, tomorrow sees us leaving Beijing for Shanghai in the evening so don’t expect any news until Monday. I might manage on Sunday – if you’re lucky.
Loving the blog. Glad to see the Glitter Sisters (who can forget the Dorothy Lamour impressions in Jingshan Park?) are being so well regaled on their Cathay trip.
i had a feeling i was a dog!! it was beautiful to spend the day with the 3 of you. hope the trip back was good. rosie, i’m loving the blog, the awesome photos, and the stories!