Visit with Char

Monday, November 12, I went to the airport to pick up my dear friend Char. She came at just the right time to give my life and psyche a boost. It is a good thing I had just been offered a job by the time she arrived, or I probably would have gotten a ticket to return home with her.  As it was, we could just enjoy each others company and talk and talk and talk. So now you know what we did on Tuesday. Oh - I also got to look through all my winter clothes that she brought me from my house.  It was a little like Christmas, and it was very nice to have warm clothes to wear.

On Tuesday morning we decided to visit the Old Summer Palace.  It had been destroyed by the French and the British in the early 1900's.  They have never rebuilt it like they have the New Summer Palace. Instead they just turned it into a park. I am sure it is much more beautiful when all the trees are green and there are flowers in bloom, but it did give us the chance to walk and talk some more. You can see that it was a beautiful, clear day without many people - a very unusual thing for the busy, bustling city of Beijing.  We couldn't have found a better place to spend the morning. Just pretend you are meandering along with us.

We spent the afternoon in the Art District 798. It was originally an old German factory.  It is now made up of many tiny shops for artists of all kind. These are just a few of the pictures taken as we walked through the streets.

We did end up eating dinner there.  It was an authentic Chinese dinner made up of pumpkin cream soup, margarita pizza and chicken curry.  You are right - it was not an authentic Chinese dinner, but it tasted very good just the same. It was a very nice way to end the day and make our way home.