Beijing revisited, The Summer Palace - the Opera House and Marble Boat.

Tucked away from the main tourist areas in the Garden of Virtue and Harmony building complex

 is the Opera House or Grand Theatre, situated in a very calm, peaceful and extremely beautiful area of its own.

This is the back of the building

The photos above and below show the individual rooms near the stage of the Opera House, it is easy to imagine the members of the Empress's Court enjoying an evening watching the Peking Opera.

The  Empress Cixi loved Opera and would have watched the performances from the Hall of Nurtured Joy which is situated directly opposite the stage, this building was not open to the public when we visited, but peeping through the window we saw the couches covered in yellow silk which would have been used by the Empress.

The Stage :)

Bats on a door decoration. Bats in the Chinese culture are symbols of happiness and joy. Five bats together as seen in the centre of the photo represent the Five Blessings, which are long life, wealth, health, love of virtue and a peaceful death.

Some of the many beautiful decorations that can be seen all round the Opera House area, every one is different, all are just gorgeous - I wonder how many hours were spent painting these?

The Golden Dragon is a frequently seen decoration in the Imperial Buildings, I love them, they just look so happy!

A small courtyard near the Opera House

A beautifully decorated small pavilion.

No tourists, only us!!

The head of a Dragon Boat :)

The gorgeous Marble Boat, built in 1755, and rebuilt in 1893 after the original was burnt down.

The superstructure is made of wood in the French style.

My daughter and my friend on one of the amazing bridges in the gardens.

Beijing revisited - The Summer Palace

The Garden of Harmonious Pleasures

The gateway leading to the Garden of Harmonious Pleasures.

I first visited the Summer Palace back in 2011, on that short visit we walked through the covered walkway to the marble boat.  I loved what I had seen on my last visit, but had no idea of how much we had missed on our last visit to this beautiful place.

My daughter has visited the Summer Palace on a number of occasions, and this time she took us to some of the lesser known parts, starting with this gorgeous garden, known as the Garden of Harmonious Pleasures. I have to say that this garden is probably my favourite place from this holiday, to me this summoned up what I had always thought of as being the essence of China.

The Garden consists of a large pond, surrounded by pretty pagodas, winding walkways, bridges and beautiful pavilions. The winding walkways are made of  over 100 sections, joining the various bridges, and buildings.

There were an amazing number of fish in the pond.

Looking across the pond to some of the pavilions in this amazing peaceful place.

Such a lovely place to sit and while the summer days away.

Everywhere you looked were gorgeous views, fantastic for taking photos :)

Some of the winding walkways surrounding the pond.

The marble bridge from the opposite side of the pond.

Beautiful buildings hiding amongst the trees

Looking toward the marble bridge, so pretty :)

The marble bridge.

It is noticeable in China that the parks and palaces are enjoyed by many people, when they are as beautiful as this it is not really surprising :)

In this country if a tree was leaning this much it would have been taken down, instead the chinese have gone to a lot of trouble to prop it up with poles, which to me is amazing. :)

Finally I couldn't resist taking a photo of this man, enjoying his visit to the garden :)

Beijing Revisited, The Great Wall

We could not leave China until my friend Sheila had seen the Great Wall, a feeling I could well understand from my first visit to China back in 2011. Once again we chose to visit Mutianyu, where we found a lot has changed since our last visit! 

Where before there were a few stalls selling souvenirs, clothes etc. there is now a new large area with restaurants, shops and stalls at the main drop off area, before climbing up to the cable car station.

Going up in the cable car :)

This decorated tree stands near to the actual entrance of the wall, which can be seen on the left of the photo. 

It is quite a steep climb up to the actual wall from the cable car, but well worth it for the views :)

On the Wall, I am sure I have a photo taken in roughly the same place on my last visit, with not one person in sight!

One of the Guard Towers, seen through the trees.

I have seen the Wall before, but it is still an amazing sight :)

I think my friend was down there somewhere!!!

My lovely daughter Alice, and I on the Great Wall :)

Just amazing views wherever you look, and it was a beautiful clear day with a lovely cool breeze.

Going down,

Once down there, looking back up :)

I nearly managed to get a photo with no-one in it :)

I damaged a ligament in my knee at the end of last year, so I was being very careful, and didn't want to go too far, especially down steep steps with no hand rails, and my daughter has been on the wall so many times now that she wasn't worried about going too far, so instead we left the wall, and found a lovely shady spot in one of the new cafes next to the wall, where we sat and watched the world go by while we ate ice dream, and drank tea while we waited for our friends to come back. 

A Great Wall butterfly! I have no idea what sort of butterfly it was but it was lovely to see it at the top of the mountain :)

A last view of one of the Guard Towers on the way back down :)

It was great visiting the Great Wall again, but I had honestly forgotten how much climbing uphill was involved even with the cable car, however, I managed it, and was glad that I did, it was every bit as wonderful as the last time I visited :)