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| Flowers at the entrance to Summer Palace. |
As smoggy as it was yesterday, it was absolutely beautiful when we woke up today! The sun was shining and the sky was blue as we made our way the Summer Palace the morning of our last day in Beijing.
The Summer Palace, called Yi He Yuan, means “Garden of Nurtured Harmony,” or “Garden for Maintaining Health and Harmony.” It is an amazingly well-preserved imperial garden that dates back to the Jing dynasty from 1115 -1234.
Every detail of the Summer Palace was amazing. I couldn’t take enough pictures. There were people everywhere singing and playing traditional instruments, and field trips of Chinese kids learning about the history of the buildings.
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| Huge dragon statue by the North Gate. |
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| Talk about intimidating! |
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| Couldn't get over the architecture. |
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| Every inch is covered in decoration. |
We spent hours in amazement walking around taking pictures of the buildings. The architecture is so incredible. It was the best day to visit the Summer Palace by far.
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| Little bridges in the courtyard. |
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| Bridge leading to the "Hall of Embracing the Universe" |
I took so many pictures so I could remember how beautiful it was here. Going to Summer Palace was the best way to wrap up our amazing trip! It was hard to leave!
We had to force ourselves into a taxi to head back to the hotel before our flight! We had just enough time to grab a bite to eat the market before heading to the airport, but I could have spent hours at the market just looking at all of the different types of groceries.
We packed up and were picked up by Mercedes SUVs (thanks again China Open!) which made it a lot less stressful to get to the airport.
It didn't really hit me until we hopped on the plane that we were really leaving! I had such an awesome time in Beijing and I learned so much about Asian culture in the time we were here. It's been the most eye-opening trip of my life--not including all of the tennis!
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