798 Art District Beijing

This was our final outing of the week, and something very different. Alice had told me about 798 Art District which sounded very interesting so we decided to visit the area on the last day of my fantastic weeks holiday in Beijing.

The horse’s hoof, I am not sure what these statues were made of but close up they were really colourful.

798 District is situated in the North Eastern part of Beijing and was previously an area made up of factories, which are now used as Art Galleries, and the buildings made fantastic canvases for some amazing street art.

Al fresco eating again

This statue was not the most attractive, but it was fascinating!

It is a wonderful area, and after a lovely lunch in a local restaurant we set off to see what we could find. Everywhere you look in this area has something different to look at, so many different art forms, some of which I liked, and some I didn’t. I think you will agree by looking at the photos that there is a lot of talent on show in this area.

We only managed to look round one of the galleries but it was fascinating seeing the modern art displayed in an industrial setting. The photos below are all of the art works in the gallery, they were just amazing.

The rabbit is a soft toy.

The blue blob in the spheres is me taking the photo!!

I think this was one of my favourites

We found a lovely restaurant opposite the caged dinosaurs, so we soaked up the atmosphere and did our usual people watching. There was a large gallery opposite but unfortunately we ran out of time, as we had been invited out by Alice’s company to dinner, and I had my packing to do…

The dinosaurs in their cages, the children weren’t frightened of them, they had great fun getting into the bottom cage

Even the cats were gazing at the art works!

One of the street artists amazing portraits.

This lady looked as if she were made from Lego bricks!

The couple inviting us into the Restaurant

Finally a closer look at the wall Dragon.

The Old Summer Palace – the Maze

I asked at the end of the last blog if anyone could guess what the little pavilion shown above was doing in the middle of the Old Summer Palace ruins. The title gives it away – it is the centre of a maze.

A maze was something we really did not expect to find on the site, and, as we both love mazes we had fun walking round. Unlike our English Mazes which are usually made with hedges this one is stone built, with beautiful patterns carved into the stone walls.

The disadvantage of having stone walls is that the children (and some of the adults) cheat, and climb over the walls instead of walking round the paths, but everyone was having fun.

The sign at the entrance tells the history of the maze and how it has been restored, it was a little strange finding such a European idea in the heart of China, but it is lovely

After our exhausting walk round the ruins we found a cafe, and enjoyed cold drinks and a rest before making our way to the East Gate where we got a taxi back into the centre of Beijing, and had our evening meal at the recently opened pizza hut! They have a rooftop eating area which is a lovely place to relax and watch the world go by! Another fantastic day