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Published: June 26th 2017
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Geo: 39.9165, 116.391
On Wednesday night we dined at the Italian Restaurant in the hotel. This was surprisingly inexpensive if you chose from the pasta menu. We had Bruschetta to start which was 6 pieces and then I had a Ravioli Foie Gras with a rich cheese sauce which was delicious. Fletcher ordered the Spaghetti Marinara but stipulated no capers. When it came there were capers in the sauce. After profuse apologies and very little waiting he was given another, which he deemed very tasty. We had a Sicilian red with it which was very smooth. A very pleasant meal.
Today was the second day of Congress for Fletch and my second day of touring. I left at 930. Pauline and John were also on the tour as was Riita whom I had met yesterday. We drove to the Summer Place. Grace, the guide, explained that today the system of odd and even number plate days started so the traffic was much lighter and the sky much bluer. It was a very warm day. It was great to revisit the gardens which I had seen in 1999. This time the flowers were out and the lake was liquid!!. We boarded the Dragon boat
which took us across the lake to the marble boat on the other side. The marble boat was built by the Emperor to remind himself that if he looked after the people he would survive but if not the tide would overcome him. From there we only had a half hour to walk along the Long Corridor and see the other beautiful buildings. The Long Corridor is a covered walkway adorned by over 80,000 paintings. Pauline, John and I walked along there for a while and then branched out to see some of the other courtyards and buildings. The half hour went quickly and we were back on the boat and back to the entrance. When Fletcher and I had come here before we had spent nearly a full day here so this quick visit was disappointingly short.
We were then driven to the Hutong district behind the Forbidden City. We went past the Drum Tower and Bell Tower we had see last January(2014). We walked past the lake which had been frozen last time to the Quiangjude restaurant. This has a reputation for its Peking Duck. We had a fantastic lunch here. We had Peking Duck pancakes as well as
many other delicious dishes, far better food than at the Congress dinner the other night. Mrs Lao was at our table, a lovely elegant lady.
From there we walked into the Hutongs (which means narrow streets) and were taken into one of the houses. They have a central courtyard and this one had 8 rooms leading off from that, This house is owned privately which now is very unusual and was a home stay during the Olympics. We were able to go into some of the rooms. In the courtyard there were cages with birds and rabbits and one small one with a cricket!! We were told that older people like the noise it makes.
After our visit there we hopped into rickshaws (pedal ones) and were taken for a ride around the Hutongs. I had walked around these little streets last time but this time we didn't stop to browse the shops etc. However, it was a fun experience. Then it was back onto the bus for the drive back to the hotel.
After a rest and recovery we had invitations to the Local Organising Committee's dinner. This was in the Convention Centre next door. We met up with Tim
Rogers from Norfolk Island and his wife in the bar for a predinner drink. Cherry also joined us. Then we walked over to the dinner. This had much nicer food than the opening dinner and the wine, though still Chinese, was also an improvement. Brian Roe joined our table and also Peoria from Palau so we had a very pleasant night. The entertainment was brief and the PA system very poor so we couldn't hear the speeches( what a pity!) All in all a very good day!
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