We took off for Purple Mountain with a large group. Melissa, Jovanni & I wanted to go to the gondola ride up to the top and hike down. The other people didn't want to hike so they went to the tomb and temples instead.
We got off the metro and had no clue where to go!! There were these vans trying to recruit people and take them but we were too scared. So we asked some people and finally one lady helped explain to a taxi where we were trying to go and we got there!
It was a ski lift and it took us to the top, where there was a look out. You could see the whole city and it was so gorgeous. We found a path with stairs and hiked down. Took about 45 min with us stopping to take pictures everywhere. The path was covered with trees so even though it was high 90's-low 100's it was shady and a little breezy!
From there we took another taxi to the botanical garden. It was somewhat of a bust. It looked like they planted every species of tree and plant and said: grow. It wasnt manicured or landscaped how I had imagined it. But they had a restaurant so we ate there. What an experience ... Only Chinese on the menu and no pictures. Melissa had her book of phrases so we used that. She got shrimp, Jovanni got beef and I got green beans (after he said they didnt have 5 other things I wanted) and a tomato soup with egg. I also asked for orange juice.
We got: a pitcher of OJ. It was fresh squeezed, so that was cool but didnt match our dinner at all. So we shared it. Melissa got a PILE of shrimp. Jovanni got a platter of beef. I got a PILE of green beans. None of us wanted each other's food either so it was so hilarious!!! Hi, I hike in 100 degree weather for an hour and eat a plate of beans ... And you?!?! Ha ha ha. The soup got shared a bit. It was a GIANT bowl. I guess we didn't think that everything you order here is "serves however many people are eating" rather than individual servings. :)
We left there and went to the place I was wanting to go to the most - the place with the large animal stones. Wowwwwww!!!! It was soooooo cool. This tomb is guarded by men and animals. They line a path that leads to the tomb. The humans are like soldiers, captains, generals. The animals are elephants, horses, camels, unicorns that don't look like our unicorns - and lions. They have them standing and then, sitting. I took so many pictures because they were sooo cool!!!
The tomb was also cool. The grounds have Mexico pyramids looking dragon heads that are left from what must've been an impressive structure the Japanese destroyed. We met these Chinese guys there - college age and so friendly and they hung out with us for a good half hour or more. Then these younger French girls were also walking around so I encouraged them to go after them since they were around their age!! They were all shy about it, it was fun to watch!!
When we were done, we tried walking out and getting a taxi home. Two taxis stopped and wouldn't take us. We would show them the address to the hotel and they said no. It was so frustrating, I was soooo tired!!! So we walked and found a helpful man who told us where the metro station was. It was like 8 blocks away. And we took the metro home. (Found out later the taxis have shifts. When they are going home ... They'll only take you if you're on their way. At least that made me feel better. 6-7pm is a bad time to get taxis.)
We went back to the hot pot dinner place since Melissa hasn't been yet.
What a GREAT day off.
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