April 16- Easter Sunday (23-25C- a bit cloudy)
 Breakfast is at 6:30. we go down and sit with Rémi and Paul. We then go back to the room, get ready and go down with our luggage for 8 am. We leave at 8:30. Our flight is only this afternoon so we have time for a few visits this morning. First off we go a Pearl factory visit. Again, not a place we would go to on our own. Luckily these tours are quick and fairly painless.

Great guide.

The workers place pieces of jewelry around the girls' necks. A little incentive to purchase. (none of them bit)

 Our second destination is the Emperor's Summer Palace. We spend one and a half hours walking around with Jack as our guide.

Many Chinese residents also visit the many tourists sites. They bring their lunches and make a day of it.

The ceiling in one of the walkways.

This boat was not real; it did not float.

The entrance to the Palace.

More boats to rent.

The pagodas. We couldn't visit them. This is as close as we got.

The walkway.

All of the women in our group.

We go to lunch at 1:15. Same story as every other meal. After lunch we drive by the Bird Nest and Ice Cube from the 2008 Olympics so our driver pulls over to give us a chance to get out and take pictures. It's a hazy, grey day so pictures don't turn out very well.

The Bird Nest

Funky building near the Olympic site.

The many overpasses.

The Ice Cube

Bird Nest and Ice Cube

 

We continue our drive to the airport. It's 3:15 or so lots of time. Our flight is at 5:05. We are flying to our second city- Xi'an. At the airport some of our group members grab a bite to eat at McDonald's. Jack told us that we would only have a little snack on our flight. We are a little late boarding so by 5:20, everyone is seated. There's an announcement saying our flight is delayed. It is 6:05 by the time the plane starts moving and in the air by 6:15. We do get a meal during the flight but it is definitely not something to write home about. We land at 8:10. We get our luggage and find our bus for an hour drive to our hotel. While driving on the city streets, the bus came to an abrupt halt. Wires were hanging so low across the street that the bus couldn't go under. The truck ahead of us was in the same predicament. Our guide Jack had to go outside and using a long telescopic pole had to push the wires away from the bus. It took about 5 min or so and cars were not stopping. They were passing the bus and getting close to Jack. He didn't seem to think anything of it.

This is an example of the masses of wires hanging all over the cities. How can this work? Thank god they don't have ice storms.

We arrive at the hotel, The Grand Barony Xi'an. It is 9:35 and we are in our rooms by 10 and soon in bed, asleep. Our departure tomorrow is 8:30.