Our writer of the day, Brandy, standing in front of the National Art Museum of China. We got there on a day they were having an opening for three new exhibits.

A traditional Chinese painting of a preying mantis.
This watercolor uses both tight and loose styles of brush painting.


Group under the entry gate at the Summer Palace

Summer Palace covered walkway called the Long Gallery is about a half mile long leading to the palace.

We are still not up to the top of this magnificent complex built on a hill.

Group on the north side of the hill; we sure have
been doing a lot of climbing the last few days.

The Empress Dowager Cixi "set aside 30 million taels of silver embezzled from the Imperial Navy to restore the grand garden, which had been destroyed by the French in 1860; it took ten years to complete."1 The stone boat was carved from a large rock in the lake and was complete with stone chairs and tables in the western style.

1 http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_travel/200309
/24/content_34704.htm

Today was the most beautiful day we have had during our stay in China. The sun was out and it was about 70 degrees. This morning we went to the a wonderful art museum. There was a lot of Western art (that's Western USA!). My favorite painting was from that exhibit; it showed beautiful, bright colored lines streaming horizontally across the canvas. When we were waiting for the teachers (which we seem to have to often in museums) we were hackeying it up like always and somehow the hackey-sack got thrown into the bushes. I'm not naming names and it wasn't the last one, but it was the best one, and now it's lost.

Then for lunch we went to a small restaurant near the Summer Palace, which was to be our next destination. We took a bright blue and gold and green painted boat across the man-made lake to the Emperor's Summer Palace. We walked all the way to the top to see how the Emperor's family would live when Beijing would get too hot. They lived well. I was impressed with the bright colors and the painting work. I think this was the most beautiful place we have visited so far. It could have been the weather, but that's how I feel right now.

We played Hearts in the bus on the way back to our hotel. We had a lot of time, as this was our first experience with serious Beijing traffic. It's a good thing we weren't in a hurry and that we were enjoying each other's company. Also, being in bad traffic allowed us to look at all the stores and buildings. We saw a pool and an amazing stadium being built for the Olympics. The stadium looked like a woven metal basket. The pool, we were told, was the size of eleven Olympic pools.
I have to go pack. We're leaving for Kunming tomorrow morning and travel within China has a lower weight allowance. So decisions have to be made.

Ms. Simpson looking at work by contemporary artist Jiang Wenzhan. This exhibit opened today and the artist was on hand to talk with visitors, no wonder those teachers took so long at the museum.

The view over the man-made lake at the Buddhist temple at
the Summer Palace

We are ascending the stairs to the Buddhist Temple
which is at the top of the highest point of the Summer Palace grounds

Rooftops are part of the view on the way up the hill.

Brandy at the entrance to the Temple of the Fragrant Buddha