For our second to last day in Beijing, we wanted to go to the Summer Palace. As the Beijing zoo was on the way, we decided to drop in and see some pandas.
People around the zoo clearly don't pay attention to the signs that tell you not to feed the animals. In fact, the bears have gotten pretty good at begging. Here, you can see them make some
ASL type signs for more food.
A tiger is on the prowl.
Safety restrictions are pretty lax here. You can stick your hand into the aviary with several hungry vultures and eagles.
After the zoo, we took a boat up a water canal to the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace is exactly what it sounds like. It was a Summer home for the royal family long ago. It was gorgeous, but there was quite a bit of fog, obscuring some of the palace's majesty.
A lotus garden
Once again, everything is embellished. Here are some of the more impressive structures.
An incense ball at the foot of a lion
Another pagoda
Face on a water pot
Buddhist symbol on a water pot
Monkey?
Every eave has a set of sculptures
The palace is situated on a large lake
There are several Buddha statues
This boat is made entirely of marble.
I hoped to get closer, but this was a close as I could get. I hope you can see the intricate work on the top of the boat.
At night, we swung by Olympic Park to see the water cube and bird's nest.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Savannah.
We finished the night off with an obligatory Peking duck. It was one of the best meals of my life. The restaurant we went to is tacky, but has been making duck for about 400 years, so they're pretty good at it.
A chef cuts the bird by your table. The skin is crispy at first, then just melts in your mouth. The duck is wrapped with cucumber, plum sauce, garlic, and mustard sauce. This was the best meal of our vacation to date. It was another perfect ending to another great day. It was also nice to get such a hearty meal before our adventure the next day; The Great Wall!
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