Yi He Yuan - Summer Palace

Outside the front entrance to the Palace

Below please find pictures from the first place I went sightseeing in Beijing - YiHeYuan, the emperor's summer place. I look horrible in a lot of this pictures, quite exhausted/adjusting/jetlagged at the time so please forgive the odd expressions and squinty eyes. Anyhow, Yi He Yuan is about 45 mins outside of Beijing and used to serve as the Emperor's Summer Palace. It's quite large and hilly but simply gorgeous.

In the Garden w/ YuanMeng, a student at Beijing Foreign Languages and Studies University. (They wrote my hs Chinese textbooks)

Outside a pagoda

The Bridge joining the island in the manmade lake with the shore.

Misty view of the shore from the peddleboat we rented to go onto the lake.

Detail on the inside of a pagoda. Can you believe that every painting that decorates the entire palace was handdrawn?

Another view of the shore

Arch over the lake

Ornate inside of a pagoda

Minnie, another intern, and I in front of a famous mystical being (part deer, part dragon)

Next to the lake

With YuanMeng in front of a very famous lion