Vizcaya Museum & Gardens

I had a great weekend when my parents came into town to visit and we toured Vizcaya Museum & Gardens which is a national historical landmark here in Miami.

Dr. Seuss National Memorial

Abhay and I traveled to a wedding which happened to be near Springfield, MA and to my delight the location of the Dr. Seuss National Memorial.

Olympic Park

These pictures do not properly give justice to the amazing stadium built for the 2008 Olympics and they looked even more impressive at night but I was unable to get any good shots.

Back in Beijing at the Summer Palace

Arriving back in Beijing after a trip on the train we didn't waste any time to go and tour the Summer Palace located just outside of Beijing.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda & Shaanxi History Museum

Located in Xi'an is a Buddhist Pagoda called the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which was built to hold statues that were brought to China from India translator and traveller Xuanzang.







Nearby the pagoda is the Shaanxi History Museum which holds an amazing amount of historical artifacts for the entire country of China.



There is no special story behind this statue but I just liked its form:

Wolong Temple & Stele Forest

We still have classes while we are in Xi'an but in the afternoon we were able to travel to the Wolong Buddhist Temple in the city. Outside the temple area there were several people sitting around playing cards. You will notice that only the men are actually playing cards - apparently they don't really let the women play with them - but I saw women set up playing their own games.



Prior to entering the temple were shops set up outside in a market area selling incense and candles to burn inside the temple.





Entrance to the temple:













It was very quiet and peaceful within the temple walls and a nice break from the noisy, busy streets outside in the city.

After the temple we headed over to the Stele Forest is famous for its numerous historic inscriptions and stoneworks. The museum contained thousands of stone tablets from throughout the years which highlighted the change in the character styles.



There were just rooms and rooms of tablets set-up like the ones below.





Back out walking around the city we passed by a beauty shop where women were getting their done with these contraptions.

Night Out in Xi'an

We enjoyed a cultural show (although very touristy) at the Tang Dynasty Theatre. There were several different dancing, musical, and acrobatic acts.











After the show we walked about the city and caught a great shot of the Drum Tower illuminated at night. The small things in the air behind the Drum Tower are kites being flown by vendors around the area.