Stellae Boreales – An Ottawa Suzuki Strings Violin Ensemble

Yesterday we were supposed to have a concert at the Great Wall. However, it was raining so we did the Sunday activities instead. Our first drop-off was the Temple of Heaven. This temple is surrounded by a park which is particularly popular for doing exercises such as dancing, tai chi with a ball and paddle, and shuttlecock. Asian shuttlecock (or Jiànzi 毽子) is a lot like Hacky Sack except it has round disks on the bottom and feathers on the top. We joined in a game with one man and several Chinese people laughed at our inexperience. It was fun though and several people bought shuttlecocks. The temple itself was very beautiful and there was an amazing view of the city. After lunch we went to the Summer Palace. When we walked in I didn't think much of it, but as we kept walking we saw the lake, the mountains and the temple. The lake is connected to the moat of the Forbidden Palace. The Empress would have traveled to the palace by boat. The mountains were layered in different colours of blue. On the closest mountain was the Summer Temple. After walking through the palace some of us climbed the many stairs to the temple. On the way up my camera batteries stopped working. Having no spares I asked other people to take pictures for me. After coming down we went on a quick boat ride round the lake, took the last of our pictures and stepped into the wonderful joy of the bus AC. For dinner we went to a fancy restuarant to have Peking Duck. After several dishes of meat and vegetables the cook brought out the duck and sliced it in the doorway. We were then shown how to place some duck, cucumber, spring onions and sauce onto a pancake, which we rolled up. After the fabulous dinner we retired to our rooms for a sound sleep. ABT