Weekend away.

---

Geo: 30.25, 120.17

We left after school and work had finished on a Friday night for the weekend.
There were 3 families traveling together.
We caught the fast train to Shanghai and then another fast train to Hangzhou.
(There is now a fast train from Nanjing straight to Hangzhou.)
The first thing we did was walk to the lake from the hotel.
The weather was nice and one of the boys was on a mission.
He had his phone out and we followed him.
There were signs pointing to the right to the Lake.
"No. No. This way, to the left," he insisted.
Ok, so we all followed.... We arrived at Starbucks.
"We are here," he announced. "Time for Coffee."
After a quick coffee break we started on our walk towards the lake.
Firstly we had to catch a boat to the main part of the island. From there we walked along the paths until we arrived at the pagoda. There are escalators that take you up the last part of the path that leads up tot he pagoda.
The view is beautiful from the top. Walking around the top of the pagoda you could see the whole town. It was a nice and clear day too.
We then walked back over the bridge that crossed the lake connected the island back to the mainland.
This area is known to be one of the 4 Beauties of Ancient China and it has been a romantic spot since ancient times.

LEGEND
Bai Suzhen a white snake spirit and Xu Xian a mortal man fell in love and got married soon after.
An evil monk imprisoned Xu and she tried to rescue him but failed and was imprisoned under the Leifeng Pagoda. Years later Bai Suzhen sister rescued them. From then on they lived together happily. Because of this story the lake is ideal dating place for lovers.

---