Spring in Beijing…

We came back from our Spring Break trip exhausted, but we were up early that Sunday, tempted by sunshine and blue skies in Beijing. So off we went to the Summer Palace. This is the Summer Palace. Originally the “Garden of Clear Ripples” (I like that name) but destroyed and rebuilt over the ages… this is the place where the Empress Dowager Cixi built her fabulous summer retreat. It’s way up here in the northwest quadrant of Beijing, and so only a short taxi ride from our apartment.

We toured Beijing in 2005 just before we adopted Elle, and stopped at the Summer Palace with the Winslows, the Klassens, the Gaines… I remember walking the long covered corridor with Cece running the entire length in front of us (she was a little more than two and a half, and a very active toddler), and I remember the marble boat, but I don’t remember a lot of detail from that Beijing tour. Too busy with Cece and way too excited to get to Wuhan for Elle. Six years. Hard to believe…

Anyway. A gorgeous park to hang out in on a Sunday. We rented a pedal boat and tooled around the lake (Lake Kunming). Then went home and totally crashed… the way you do at the end of Spring Break.