China Part II

One of the days in Beijing our talks were cancelled so my colleague and I talked to our hotel concierge and got a map of the city and instructions on where we could pick up the subway. The subway only cost $2 to go across town, so we visited "The Summer Palace" also known as "The Gardens of Nurtured Harmony", which is an extensive palace complex built on a forested hill next to a lake where the Chinese Emperors took up summer residence starting in the tenth century http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace . When we woke in the morning it was snowing and it snowed lightly most of the day. It was also quite foggy, so I have some rare "winter" pictures of the Summer Palace.

Part of the palace gardens include a series of canals, which are full of lily pads during the summer months an on which you can either rent a boat or take a floating tour. Here the water has a thin coating of ice.

The garden paths were in the process of being swept by the grounds keepers using bamboo brooms

Many of the covered patios, pagodas, and walkways had beautiful lacquer paintings in the inner roofs/ceilings and door posts.

Here you can just make out the distance shore through the mist

This pavilion that was made to look like a lake barge is made entirely of marble.

This is a section of "The Long Corridor": a covered walkway that is at least a quarter mile long and follows the lake front.