Summer Palace & Panda's

Don't worry, it's not a 'mushy' post tonight...I'm just too tired to really think about anything more than the facts! I've got some bottles to wash before I go to bed. We have a VERY full day tomorrow starting at 9am with a 2 hour bus ride to the Great Wall and a stop off at the Jade Factory. We'll only be back to the hotel around supper time. Please keep Chris in your prayers that he is well tomorrow so he can do the wall and actually enjoy himself.

Today was a beautiful day here in Beijing. It was kinda sunny...I think as sunny as it gets here with all the smog! It was a very full day - but very enjoyable...well, at least for me (Tracy), Chris unfortunately is still under the weather so stayed in bed most of the day as we were both up most of the night. We had to do some paperwork this morning and then I went to the supermarket with a couple of the girls to pick up some water and a few necessities. When I got back Madi was sleeping with her Dada. We had just 30 minutes before we had to be ready to head out to the Summer Palace so Chris decided to stay behind to rest and Madi stayed with him. We didn't want to wake her up to get ready and I think Chris secretly wanted some Daddy and Madi time :o)

The Summer Palace was great, I can just imagine how beautiful it is in the summer when all the trees are full and flowers are blooming. After that we went to the zoo to see the Panda's eating. I got a few pics but they didn't turn out very good because they were in glass enclosures and it was kinda dark so the flash was reflecting off the glass.

We love you and miss you all and can't wait to see you next week!

This picture is a view of the private temple at the Summer Palace. It was used by the women to burn incense for their loved ones and there is also a ballroom where the 'dragon lady' held her birthday party every year. We didn't go up as it was a very steep climb and we were on a time crunch to get to the zoo by 4:30pm to see the Panda's feed.

This is one of the views of a lake at the Summer Palace, there is an open corridor that you can walk along the coast to take in all the wonderful views - at the end of this corridor is the marble boat. This is the marble boat where the 'dragon lady' liked to have breakfast. We weren't allowed to go onto the boat so we've just got a side view picture.

Now here are the Panda's! They are so cute! I just wanted to get in there and snuggle. They are such beautiful animals - much better in person than on TV!