Summer Palace
Let me tell you a few things that don't mix well together...100* F, unending rocky steps, and the wrong footwear. Oh and dodging thousands of other sweaty, pushy tourists. On Saturday, I experienced this particularly unfortunate cocktail at the Summer Palace. Now before I go any further, I should preface this post with a note that I ended up really enjoying the visit despite the aforementioned complaints.
Naturally, before we get to the good stuff, let me air my grievances. My first mistake was my shoe choice. Unbeknownst to me, the Summer Palace is notoriously hilly. While this feature makes the park uniquely beautiful, it is best conquered in sneakers or at least shoes with traction (aka not flat sandals from Target). My second mistake was thinking it would be cute to wear a romper and carry my Longchamp bag. During the week, my daily wardrobe consists of plain tshirts and shapeless black pants (but seriously so comfortable...holler at ya Eileen Fisher). So, on the weekends, I like to "dress up" aka not look like a kid going to summer camp. What's cuter than an adorable navy romper and coordinating Longchamp bag? Anything that's made out of a light breathable fabric and that I can carry on my back as I trek up eighty thousand uneven rocky steps. Lastly, due to my complete lack of preparation for the intensity of the day, I only packed my small water bottle. Boy oh boy was that a mistake. After about 2 flights of stairs in the ungodly heat, I had sucked out every last drop from my water bottle in an attempt to thwart the impending heat stroke. Luckily, the park has many small convenience stores/gift shops that offer cold water bottles. But somehow the seemingly overwhelming number of stores carrying water seemed rather sparse when my mouth was feeling dryer than the Sahara. Nevertheless, I lived to tell about it #ISurvivedSummerPalaceintheSummer.
Now, let's move onto the positive stuff. The Summer Palace is absolutely gorgeous. Out of all the parks I've visited this far, it has the highest number of temples and religious buildings. The Summer Palace is the largest royal park in all of China. Based on Chinese mythology, the Summer Palace is dominated by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake. While the steps going up Longevity Hill are undoubtedly abundant, the views from the top of the Summer Palace are unparalleled. Interestingly enough, the ground that was excavated to create Kunming Lake was then used to create Longevity Hill. Seems like they created a lot of work for themselves...
After scaling Longevity Hill, we paused to appreciate the beautiful, well-deserved views as well as the various buildings scattered at the top of the hill. The colors of the temples are truly vibrant in a way that I've never seen before. Steeped in amazing history and years of stories, you can feel the energy escaping from the temples. We continued to weave our way down the hill via much more manageable walking paths and made our way to Kunming Lake. Luckily we refueled with some drinks and snacks as we meandered around the lake. After fully taking in the sites and full advantage of the photo ops, we called it a day and headed home. Check Summer Palace off the Beijing bucket list!
Naturally, before we get to the good stuff, let me air my grievances. My first mistake was my shoe choice. Unbeknownst to me, the Summer Palace is notoriously hilly. While this feature makes the park uniquely beautiful, it is best conquered in sneakers or at least shoes with traction (aka not flat sandals from Target). My second mistake was thinking it would be cute to wear a romper and carry my Longchamp bag. During the week, my daily wardrobe consists of plain tshirts and shapeless black pants (but seriously so comfortable...holler at ya Eileen Fisher). So, on the weekends, I like to "dress up" aka not look like a kid going to summer camp. What's cuter than an adorable navy romper and coordinating Longchamp bag? Anything that's made out of a light breathable fabric and that I can carry on my back as I trek up eighty thousand uneven rocky steps. Lastly, due to my complete lack of preparation for the intensity of the day, I only packed my small water bottle. Boy oh boy was that a mistake. After about 2 flights of stairs in the ungodly heat, I had sucked out every last drop from my water bottle in an attempt to thwart the impending heat stroke. Luckily, the park has many small convenience stores/gift shops that offer cold water bottles. But somehow the seemingly overwhelming number of stores carrying water seemed rather sparse when my mouth was feeling dryer than the Sahara. Nevertheless, I lived to tell about it #ISurvivedSummerPalaceintheSummer.
Now, let's move onto the positive stuff. The Summer Palace is absolutely gorgeous. Out of all the parks I've visited this far, it has the highest number of temples and religious buildings. The Summer Palace is the largest royal park in all of China. Based on Chinese mythology, the Summer Palace is dominated by Longevity Hill and Kunming Lake. While the steps going up Longevity Hill are undoubtedly abundant, the views from the top of the Summer Palace are unparalleled. Interestingly enough, the ground that was excavated to create Kunming Lake was then used to create Longevity Hill. Seems like they created a lot of work for themselves...
After scaling Longevity Hill, we paused to appreciate the beautiful, well-deserved views as well as the various buildings scattered at the top of the hill. The colors of the temples are truly vibrant in a way that I've never seen before. Steeped in amazing history and years of stories, you can feel the energy escaping from the temples. We continued to weave our way down the hill via much more manageable walking paths and made our way to Kunming Lake. Luckily we refueled with some drinks and snacks as we meandered around the lake. After fully taking in the sites and full advantage of the photo ops, we called it a day and headed home. Check Summer Palace off the Beijing bucket list!
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