On Saturday in Beijing we visited the Lama Temple, Summer Palace and The Temple of Heaven. Quite a day for us! Since it was Saturday there were crowds - especially at the Summer Palace. I think I'd like to go back to the Summer Palace when there aren't crowds. HA isn't that an oxymoron I'm pretty sure there will never ever not be crowds there! But I can dream can't I?
Lama Temple was just that… a Buddhist Temple! In 1994 Lama Temple held the Guinness Book of World Records for the tallest standing Buddha. (Picture down below!)
The Summer Palace was our second stop. This place is quite beautiful - if the sun would've been out I think it would've been much more beautiful as well. The grounds are massive and surrounded by a lake, an amazing bridge, boats. We didn't ride any boats, we learned a lot about the concubines during the Ming Dynasty - man the emperors and empresses certainly got around!
This a marble boat that one of the empresses had made so it would never go anywhere.
Last stop for Saturday… Temple of Heaven. I apologize - my brain fizzled out here, if you want to know what the Temple of Heaven is talk to John Sopko or give wikipedia a search! All I know is there was some stone at the top that everyone was touching to make them get to heaven I think - I don't know, but none of us touched it or took our pictures with it! YIKES.
Bill must've lost interest too as I can only find 3 pictures of this place! Here ya go:
Oh and one more happy picture from the Great Leap Brewery! It was really close to our hotel off the beaten track in a Hutong and they had 15 glorious types of beer on TAP! But you had to sit outside and it was chilly - I needed a hat!
