Olympic park

Here we are in front of the Bird Nest

Mike took this beautiful picture at Olympic park.

The Bird Nest all lit up.

Inside the cube during the sound and light show.

Sights from Olympic park

Yes! It is the Bird Nest. We haven't been in yet, but at least we were near it. We attended a water and light concert, complete with orchestra in the Cube.
We tasted the cusine at TGIFridays so we could compare it with Moscow. The prices are a little lower here, but Mike thinks it is too expensive.

Olympic Park

Here we are with the two couples who are our closest neighbors, the Rassmussen's and Moyers. We are so fortunate to have them live close by although they teach at a different university.
We are in front of the lake at Olympic Park. It is a beautiful place and is truly impressive. There are 3 subway stops on the line going along the park which means it is huge. The day was perfect. We expected it to be colder, but it was wonderful. Notice the blue blue sky!

Tsinghua Campus

We took a tour of Tsinghua with a couple from another university and one of their students to act as interpreter. Yes, that is us on our bicycles. We had heard that Tsinghua used to be a garden and we finally visited Nearly Spring Garden. It is beautiful and as you can see the leaves are beginning to change. The lake is so peaceful. We had a great time on a wonderful Friday.

More Summer Palace

We probably took a hundred pictures. It is so beautiful there and the day was lovely.

Summer Palace

We finally made it to the Summer Palace a couple of weeks ago. It is beautiful. It is so very large we will have to make many more trips, and it is in our section of Beijing so hopefully we will go back.

More pictures from the trip

Magoa Grotto Caves and camel ride to Sound Sand Mountain and Crecent Moon Lake in the desert. We couldn't take pictures inside the caves, but I did take one at the museum the next day that gave the effect. The budda's were huge

The city wall in Xi'an. The kites were fascinating. We wished we had grandkids around to help us fly some, but since that was not to be we just watched.

The end of the Silk Road Trip

These were all taken in Xi'an which was our final stop on our trip. The terracota warriors are truly spectacular. Wome of the shots were taken at a manufacturing place where we could get more detailed photos.


The collague tool cut off the heads of the lions. The male has his foot on the world. The female has her paw on the cub.

Train Trip across the Gobi Desert

When we stayed in Turpan , we visited Jiaohe an ancient city built on a mesa surrounded by cliffs. There were only 2 ways to up the cliff so the ancient settlers had great protection. In Turpan we visited an ancient irrigation system. They still grow wonderful grapes in there. We traveled to Dunhuang by “soft sleeper train” which was a little crowded. It was just as well that it was night time because the scenery didn’t change much.

The beginning of our trip on The Silk Road

These are pictures of our trip to Heavenly Lake. Many in the group mentioned that so much of the area looked like places in the western U.S.

These were mostly taken at our favorite shopping area on our trip. The young men with Mike and Roger wanted their picture taken with the Americans. When Jane and Maradel came along they needed a picture with them too. The young men also took a picture of the whole group. The market was so much fun. Mike provided entertainment for a whole group gathered around as he bargained for a carry on bag for Maradel which she plans to take to classes with her.

Some of the group on the donkey carts and pictures of the Tuyugou Valley village.