Day12  The Summer Palace & dinner at a duck restaurant
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We had a fairly early start today to ensure we had plenty of time at The Summer Palace.  In order to avoid the intense heat of the summer, the imperial Court used to leave the Forbidden City and stay in the specially built resort   which is about 11 kilometres north-west of Beijing.  Known in the west as the Summer Palace and in China as Yiheyuan-the Garden for Cultivating Harmony-the resort includes the Longevity Hill (Wanshoushan) and a series of palaces, pavilions, terraces and covered walks strung out along the northern shore of Kunming Lake. The Summer Palace is three-quarters covered by water and Kunming Lake, whose shape and size have been altered many times by successive landscape architects, is central to the overall design of the park.  Emperor Qianlong, for one, reconstructed it to resemble the West Lake in Hangzhou in 1751, the year of his mother's 60th birthday (Longevity Hill was named for her).  The Old Summer Palace know as Yuanmingyuan was ravaged by Anglo-French troops in 1860. In 1888 the Empress Dowager Cixi diverted funds allocated for improving the navy to the Summer Palace's renovation at a new site. She gave it its present name, Yiheyuan, and retired to its peaceful environment in 1889.  Following further destruction in 1900, the Summer Palace was again restored at great expense. The Summer Palace today is a delightful park, informal and less imposing than the Imperial Palace. Much has been restored and it is in a good state of preservation.  the main entrance to the Summer Palace has many bronze statues, including the Chinese favourites, lions.  The statues have Spiritual and Mythical significance.

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The focal point of the park is the Hall of Buddhist Tenants.  The steps to reach this area are quite steep and some go through covered walkways.  Within the building is a huge figure of Buddha.

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From the top of the Longevity Hill there are superb views across the Kunming Lake.  We decided to walk around the lake not realising just how far that would be.  There are many bridges to cross on the way around the lake, some are very ornate and others are quite simple.  The most impressive have to be the Jade Belt Bridge and the Seventeen Arch Bridge.

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From the opposite side of the lake you have an impressive view of the Longevity Hill an all it's buildings

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We left the Summer Palace and returned by taxi to our hotel.  In the evening we  visited a famous duck restaurant, The Quan Jude Koayadian, close to Tiananmen Square.  The meal, especially the roast duck was excellent.  We had a great time there together with two friends we had met on the ride.  We had to finish the meal off with something exotic so we ordered some deep fried scorpions, complete with sting.  Quite tasty, but not something we'll be ordering at home!!  This was our last night in Beijing so we rounded the night off at a bar close to the Qianmen Hotel.  A large bottle of beer there, 660mls, cost 3Yuan, approx. 25p.  We had to get rid of our Chinese money as you are not supposed to take any out of the country.  What better way to do it than.....................

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