Final Day in Beijing

Okay, it is finally here – the post about our final day in Beijing.  We didn’t fly home until around dinner time so we obviously couldn’t spend the day in our hotel.  No matter how peaceful, we would have gone stir crazy in about two hours.  So, we headed back out for one final adventure – at Beihai Park which was a short subway ride from our hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

When we adopted Katrine I had hoped to visit this park to see the dragon wall but it didn’t happen and on Elspeth’s trip the focus was on keeping two girls happy not on what mommy wanted to see.  This trip, I finally made it and I was not disappointed.  Of course there was a big, beautiful lake in the middle of the park that we were able to calmly stroll along.  This time however, there were some unusual boats that you could rent.  We decided against it in favour of exploring.

 

 

 

 

Our explorations took us to the temple inside of the park which was absolutely full of water lilies and lotus in bloom.  Gorgeous and peaceful.  I think that this was the girls’ favourite part of the day.  Here are some of the photos that they took.

 

 

 

 

 

Did I get to see the Nine Dragon Wall?  You bet and it was stunning.  I had seen pictures of it in books while at university but it was much more impressive in person.  The colours were more vibrant than I had anticipated.  For me, this was the high point of the visit.  Thank goodness the girls also enjoyed looking at the dragons and choosing their favourites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the park, there was just enough time for lunch and a bit of a rest in our hutong.  Our final lunch in China – noodles of course!