Nanjing Ming city walls

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In Nanjing I am staying in the purple palace hotel. My room is palatial and the breakfast buffet is fit for a palace. There is nothing particularly purple about the hotel. It called the purple palace because it is situated by the purple mountain. It is a mountain, but is green. I have seen different explanations for the name, that the rocks are purple or that the clouds over the mountain are purple. Travelling in Nanjing has been a challenge, but the sights to see make the effort very much worthwhile. My first day here started with rain, but it quickly brightened up. The Jiming temple was my first stop. The halls here are modern 1984 and 1994, but it is a working temple. My entrance fee included incense sticks and I followed the pattern - you light the sticks from the candles, outside in front of the halls bow three times in each direction holding your incense and the place your sticks in the sadot with the others to burn down. From the temple there was an exit at the back onto the city walls. The walls are from the Ming dynasty and long sections still remain around the city. The bricks in the wall have writing on them confirming the maker etc. I walked as far as I could along the wall, but it was blocked off, probably due to renovation work. From the top of the wall I had views to the city and to Xuanwu lake park. I decided to explore the park and lake. I followed the causeway to the first island and continued to the other lake islands. They ali all linked by bridges or causeways. The highlights on the islands were a rose garden, elephants sculpted in grass, and the last island planted with bamboo and pine trees. On this last Island I was delighted to spot a kingfisher. After crossing back to the mainland I briefly visited the flower garden. This is used by wedding couples for photographs. It seems to be almost a mandatory ritual now for all couples. I counted more than eight couples! Flouncy dresses are popular and the photographers seem to think that the bride crouched in the flowers with the dress spread out around is a good look. I continued to walk around the lake past the train station and eventually reached the section of the park with the city wall. This section contined for another couple of kilometres. There was a good section with pine trees. My goal was Henan Road which has restaurants. I found a noodles restaurant and then explored the other food options nearby. My transport back to the hotel was by scooter.

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