A little bit of history of the Summer Palace because everyone likes a little bit of history just before they see all the pretty pictures and get some good old-fashioned wanderlust coursing through their veins.

The Summer Palace can date its origins back to the middle of the twelfth century although at that time it was simply the site of some minor palaces and temples taking advantage of the natural springs and lakes nearby for pleasing views. It wasn’t until the Qing dynasty and late into the eighteenth century that serious expansion of the lakes to improve water supply to the city took place and the transformation of the area into a collection of imperial gardens, palaces, and temples as the Summer Palace was completed. The design of the palace grounds was grounded in Chinese mythology with dragons and mountains represented, but maintenance of the complex was high and it soon fell into disrepair.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century French and British forces looted the palace during the Second Opium War. The nearby Old Summer Palace was burned down at this time on the orders of Lord Elgin (son of the other Lord Elgin, famous (infamous if you’re Greek) for his appropriation of the Elgin Marbles for the British government) in retaliation for the Chinese torturing and murdering European and Indian prisoners. The twentieth century saw the Boxer Rebellion cause serious damage to the palace (although it was restored soon after) and, after the Last Emperor (you might have seen him in the movie of the same name) abdicated, the Summer Palace became first private property and then a public park. For a short period after the Second World War the Summer Palace housed the Central Party School for the Communist Party.

The history lesson is over.

We arrived on the eastern side of the Summer Palace and our visit of a few hours was only enough to take in a very small section of the area. You could easily spend over half a day here if you were staying in Beijing. We started off with a visit to the Renshoudian. Also known as the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity this was a collection of buildings – temple, palace, halls with ancient artifacts – around a courtyard garden area filled with bronze sculptures and large rocks called Taihu Stones.

The Taihu Stones and their distinctive shapes are formed by the action of pebbles constantly rubbing on larger rocks through rushing water action creating holes in the larger structure, and were considered lucky. Many were brought to the Summer Palace at great expense.

A prominent bronze sculpture caught many of the tourists’ attentions. This was a Qilin. Often translated as “unicorn” the Qilin clearly isn’t one because I’ve got the ability to count horns and can reach the number two with consummate ease.

You’d be hard-pressed to tour an ancient Chinese site and not see some motif or relief work representing dragons and we weren’t disappointed with some of the stone decorations on show in this first section of the Summer Palace that we visited.

From the Renshoudian we headed roughly southwest towards the lake that makes up most of the Summer Palace landscape. This took us through the Wenchang Pavilion, constructed like a huge city gate and with a nearby hall containing more artifacts.

We didn’t stop at the pavilion as Kunming Lake was our destination. It’s possible to hire boats for personal use, either pedal or electric-powered ones, but there are larger vessels that can take groups of tourists on circuits of the lake too and it was the latter option that our Princess Cruises-organised tour directed us to.

A quick apology here for the state of the photographs of Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace. Beijing is well-known for its smog, although our 2008 visit to China not long after the Olympics meant that pollution levels were pretty low during our three days there. However, with this being November and the sun setting reasonably early in the evening and there still being some smog, even if it wasn’t particularly noticeable to us at the time, a lot of the pictures taken before and during our boat ride around the lake ended up shooting into the low sun coming through smog and reflecting off water. The result is what you’ll see below for a lot of shots: washed-out colours heavily leaning towards the yellow and orange hues, and very little dark detail. As the saying goes, it is what it is.

We boarded a boat not far from Wenchang Pavilion on the east side of Kunming Lake. Looking to the north we could see a large buddhist temple. South there was a long bridge with numerous arches, and we would soon be sailing past both of them.

Our pleasant, gentle circuit of the shallow, artificial lake took place in an anti-clockwise direction so the first sight we passed was the towering complex on the northern shore. This was Foxiang Ge (Tower of Buddhist Incense, or Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha). This building was one of those burned down by Anglo-French forces but later rebuilt and presently comprises three, eight-sided storeys on a twenty-metre-deep stone base. The temple houses a statue of the thousand-handed Guanshiyin Buddha.

West of the buddhist temple was a very unusual sight. This was the Marble Boat (also known as the Boat of Purity and Ease). Serving as a tea house with fabulous views over Kunming Lake now, this was originally a wooden structure on a stone base but like much in the area was destroyed by arson during the Second Opium War. Its reconstruction took place under the instruction of Empress Dowager Cixi and was likely through funds originally earmarked for rebuilding the navy. Despite its appearance and name, the Marble Boat is still made from wood but is now painted convincingly to resemble stone. It incorporates clever drainage systems that funnel rainwater through hollow columns.

The lake with three islands is important symbology in China and as we continued our scenic boat ride around the lake we saw numerous bridges connecting those islands. Interestingly, each bridge was very different in design. Of the smaller bridges that we saw the one that stood out most was Yudai, known as the Jade Belt Bridge. Made from marble, its shape is designed to resemble the simple bridges of the southern Chinese countryside but its unusually high clearance was a deliberate feature to allow the Qianlong Emperor to pass under it on his dragon boat.

The largest of the bridges on Kunming Lake is visible from pretty much any point along the lake’s shoreline. Shiqi Kong Qiao gets its name from its design, the literal translation being Seventeen-Arch Bridge. The bridge is one hundred and fifty metres long, making it the longest bridge in any Chinese imperial garden, and it connects the mainland to Nanhu Island. The railings on the bridge incorporate five hundred stone lions in different poses. A variety of halls, temples, and towers dotted the small island, each filling a scenic location on the landmass in which to enjoy the views of the Summer Palace in every direction, and as we gently motored past Nanhu on its north side we passed Hanxu Hall which directly faces the Buddhist tower on the shore of the lake.

Stepping ashore we had time to see one more interesting item before departing. The Kunlun Stone Tablet is inscribed with a poem written by the Qianlong Emperor and describes how the shores of the lakes changed during his years of coming to the Summer Palace and especially enjoying his time on and around Kunming Lake.

And that brought our time visiting the Summer Palace in Beijing to a close with just a short wait outside the main entrance while we waited for our bus to find us. It was a short visit of only a couple of hours that really barely scratched the surface of what there is to see at this tourist spot. If I were returning now then I’d like to have spent more time in the buildings looking at the artifacts on display and a look inside the imposing Buddhist temple would be a must too, but as a taster of what to see and as part of a combination of historical trips in one day in the pre-cruise package hosted by Princess Cruises then this was a fantastic trip.

We would have just one more day in Beijing before our cruise on Diamond Princess but it would be a very full one indeed.

Dundrennan Abbey was a Cistercian abbey, now ruins, though with some well-preserved details. For its part in history it was the place in which Mary, Queen of Scots spent her last night in Scotland in 1568 before she headed to England and was captured.

When we arrived at the abbey we saw a few other cars present and some people heading through the entrance as it had just opened. We approached the entrance and spotted a sign that indicated we should turn left to buy tickets for entry but we were confused as nobody else was. Nevertheless, we obeyed the sign and headed down to a hut, entered, and asked for tickets. The man inside was shocked and remarked that most people ignored the sign and that it was nice to have someone pay for a change. We laughed about it and explored the ruins, noticing that the people who’d not paid were universally older and all Scottish. Some comment about stereotypical tightness might have slipped our lips.

Photos of some of the Sacred and Profane art pieces:

As a piece of expressionist architecture the church borrows a lot from brutalism in its use of materials and repetitive strutural pieces, all of which I love. The church looked great from a distance and it was wonderful to be able to walk around its exterior taking photos.

The interior of Hallgrímskirkja was austere, possibly because that’s the way Lutheran churches are (we’re not familiar with churches of the faith) and possibly because that’s part of the Icelandic culture. For all that it was still impressive in a minimalist way.

We paid a small fee and took an equally small elevator up the tower. This took us to roughly the level of the clock face and a set of steps allowed us up further to see views out across Reykjavík. As an obvious tourist point in the city it’s well worth a visit.

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is large and spacious, but so much of that space was filled with people that our arrival was to ripples of noise from every direction; different types of music overlapping; distant singing; that undulating murmur of thousands of people engaged in conversations. Our guide had already explained that this was one of the main meeting places for locals to come and engage in social activities including exercise, dancing, singing, playing games, and even just avoiding solitude for some of the more elderly citizens. It was a friendly, welcoming riot.

Note: videos in this post have been removed, hopefully temporarily, while a replacement hosting solution that doesn’t use multibillion companies trying to fleece even more profits out of people is sought.

After watching some of the local Chinese men and women performing some Tai Chi we were led, slowly, through a long, covered walkway area, absolutely rammed with people. It was a mix of tour groups (a few international groups such as our own, but the majority coming from elsewhere in mainland China to see their nation’s capital) and locals filling this space, with the latter set using some benches and shade to take part in games of dominoes or Mahjong or cards, singing, dancing, or engaging in crafts including knitting. Fabulously noisy, filled with life. It’s an experience I cannot recommend highly enough if you ever visit Beijing.

Passing through the covered walkway of activities we then approached the most impressive structure in the complex, a building that we originally thought was the Temple of Heaven itself but was in fact the Hall Of Prayer For Good Harvests. No idea what it was used for but if I had to guess I’d say it was perhaps some kind of hall, maybe one in which people could pray and ask for harvests, and most likely good ones. Circular and built on a marbled base, the hall is completely wooden and constructed without using nails. The one seen today dates from the late nineteenth century as the previous building on this spot was struck by lightning and burned down.

As is the way with many of these excursions you’ll take when you choose to cruise, we then had some free time to explore as we wanted before meeting back at the entrance to the public park. The architecture of the buildings was undeniably fabulous but we’d seen plenty of this style in Beijing over the previous few days. On the other hand, the Chinese people taking part in their social activities were utterly enthralling so while many others in our tour group took a look around the halls either side of the most impressive, multi-tiered one we were all stood around at this point my wife and I decided to head for some of the open spaces in which people were dancing or exercising instead.

One thing we spotted around this time was an argument breaking out between a group of men and women in their seventies, seemingly over cheating in dominoes as far as we could tell. Raised voices and a little bit of shoving was surprisingly lovely to witness.

The following video is one that just makes my heart smile. I’m not one for line dancing when it is associated with cowboy hats but older people in China is a whole different matter.

The range of activities was great to see. The Temple of Heaven was a place where you could see that it would suit almost anybody somewhere in the grounds. Right next to the more energetic line dancing there was ballroom dancing on show. We felt at the time and still feel that this sort of group activities place primarily for elder people to meet, enjoy the open air, enjoy the company, enjoy engaging their brains, or get a little bit of physical fitness is something that could really do with appearing in more cities around the world.

The final activity we saw being performed involved lots of ribbon-twirling, just showing that there was a full range of physical exertions or lack thereof on show and represented by the people of Beijing. In addition to looking pretty it was also one of those things that felt very Chinese; not the sort of thing you’d see taking place in a park back home, and isn’t that a fantastic reason to go travelling?

And it wasn’t just the older crowd and tourists from far and wide enjoying everything going on in the Temple of Heaven.

We could easily have spent most of an entire day in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing; it was that engrossing. However, it was now time to meet our bus outside the entrance and bid a fond farewell to the Chinese city. One last sight, and a very pleasing one, was that of a man composing poetry with water on the paving slabs of the ground.

From the Temple of Heaven we had a stop at a restaurant (the one with the seal in the pool on that link) before we were taken down to Tianjin where our very first cruise would commence on Diamond Princess.

There was also a church in the park although we never did find out what its name was or the religion to which it was bound (although Lutheran would be my guess).

Our first stop was the most obvious landmark in Reykjavík, the Lutheran church Hallgrímskirkja. As we exited the impressive building we happened upon a wedding photo shoot taking place using the church as a backdrop. I made sure to take a few shots of the action as well.

After the church visit we walked the short distance down to the Reykjavík shoreline which provided some lovely views across the water to mountains around the Icelandic coast.

One of the features of the shoreline was the presence of a beautiful, stainless steel sculpture called The Sun Voyager. There were quite a few people hovering around, braving the bracing temperatures to take a photo or two and, unsurprisingly, I did the same. I also took a photo of an Icelandic man in front of the piece of art who drove up, hopped out of his car, and asked if I would. I’m nice like that.

Further along the water’s edge was the Harpa Concert Hall, an interesting piece of architecture that reminded me a little of the sand crawlers in Star Wars. We didn’t go in the building because there was a music festival taking place in Iceland in the week we were visiting and entrance was for ticket holders only.

We wandered around a little bit more after that taking more photos of Reykjavík’s streets and buildings as well as some of its street art while there was still light enough to do so before hunkering down in a few bars to grab some food and drink. Expensive, as you probably could guess with it being Iceland, but what we had was very good.

Lærdal Tunnel

To get to the church from where we were there were two options: either go over the mountains or go through the mountains. But with Princess Cruises we didn’t have to choose; there was no splitting of passengers into the group that wanted to go underground and the group that wanted to go over the top and the group that didn’t really care so long as a decision was made and they were back on the cruise ship in time for pre-dinner snacking at the buffet; no fights to the death or passionate arguments about the virtues of one route over another. We could do both. Our excursion would take us over the mountains on the way back but our journey to Borgund would go through them and that involved a trip through the Lærdal Tunnel, the longest road tunnel in the world. When we’re travelling we always like to try to do something that is the longest or highest or oldest or largest, etc. and this was it for us on this holiday. The tunnel was 24.51 kilometres long with occasional breaks in the monotony of the road for more open, blue-lit, cave sections. We were told that these were to simulate daylight and provide something to keep drivers alert. I took some video so you can see for yourself just how alert it makes you feel too.

Borgund Stave Church

We arrived at Borgund under deep, grey skies and torrential rain. That’s Norwegian weather for you. It didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the structure and it lent the area around the church an air of menace as befits most religious buildings. That is their primary purpose and don’t argue with me otherwise. The drenched, black wood of the church’s exterior, however, caused a few problems with getting decent photographs against the sky but even in silhouette form the stave church looked fantastic.

We’d been told in the coach on the trip through the tunnel that we couldn’t use flash photography inside the stave church and again, as the coach arrived at Borgund and a dedicated church guide welcomed us, we were reminded that the use of flash photography was not permitted. She then took us around the building before letting us inside where, again, we were reminded that photography of the inside of the church was fine – she would illuminate areas of the pitch black interior with her torch – so long as we didn’t use flash photography. I think you probably know where I’m going with this but I’ll say it anyway. Despite three very clear instructions in English to our English-speaking group of British and American people some self-entitled arses (older American people, naturally) started taking flash photos inside the church. The guide was too polite to say anything and I wish that I had at the time but my wife and I satisfied ourselves somewhat by standing in front of those who had taken flash photos when they went to take others. All accidentally, like. The photographs of Borgund stave church that I took, naturally, didn’t use flash because when you’re told not to then that’s what you do. It’s called respect.

We finished off our visit to Borgund stave church with a walk around its graveyard and a quick look at the nearby museum which was small but with some interesting historical objects inside. Our next stop would be Lærdal village.