Nanjing (September 2019)

After our overnight train arrived in Nanjing, we immediately went to our hotel. Our hotel was a beautiful combination of modern and old with a river that goes down the middle of it.

Our hotel room was right on the water.

Next, we walked through a park which was beautiful and doubled as a shortcut to the walking street.

The walking street, Fuzimiao, was a place with museums, temples, shops, and restaurants. It was built in 1030 during the Ming dynasty.

After we finished exploring, we ate lunch at a food court

After lunch, we went to Zhonghua Gate where an old crumbly wall surrounded Nanjing. Zhonghua Gate was built in 1360. Elise and I did archery at the archery field, which probably used to be an old actual archery field, but now it’s a fun family shooting experience!

After archery, we went up to the top of the wall where they had arrow launchers and spear launchers (fakes) on display.

After we looked around, we came down and did some more archery. Before we left, we explored all the tunnels and caves. The tunnels were for hiding soldiers in the old days. Finally, we went back to the hotel. After we got ready, we went to a restaurant that has great food, but it also had a 55-minute wait! Luckily, we got to skip the line. When we were leaving the restaurant, we were amazed to discover our number still hadn’t been called! After dinner, we went on a boat tour down the river that went through Nanjing. The boat passed right by our hotel room.

On the way back to the hotel, we had to take the long way because the park was closed. As soon as we got back, we went to bed. The next day, Mom’s relatives picked us up and drove us to the restaurant where Gong Gong’s cousin’s apprentice was the head chef! The head chef even came and ate with us, but soon after, he had to go back to work. After lunch, they dropped Mom and Dad off at a World War II memorial/museum, and we went back to their house where Gong Gong played a game with Elise and me while we ate fruit. After a little while, they took us to where their grandkids lived, and we made origami with them. After we played for a little while, Mom and Dad met us there, and our relatives drove us to have dinner with all our Nanjing relatives. There was somewhere around 30 people there. The table had an automatic, revolving, lazy susan. The waiters brought serving after serving of food to the table.

After dinner, we played with the other relatives and took so many pictures that I don’t know what there was more of, the relatives or the pictures. Finally, we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next day we went to another one of our relatives’ apartment. My great-grandmother used to own an estate that covered all three blocks until the government came and took it during the communist revolution. GRR! I hate the government now.

After we looked around the neighborhood, we ate lunch and then we visited an old estate, ZhanYuan, that was famous. Zhan Yuan is famous for its scenic gardens. It had a huge rock to climb on and stepping stones.

360 links of beautiful ZhanYuan

https://s.insta360.com/p/f9026adfc768a4b77a801ea457474a5f

https://s.insta360.com/p/285335eb2908a1ffa2b1354085cc2206

It even had secret underground tunnels!

When we finished, one of our relatives drove up the Purple Mountain so we could see the Ming tombs. The Purple Mountain is named for the purple clouds that surround the top. It is also one of the four most famous mountains in Southern China. The Ming tombs weren’t that interesting though. It was basically a bunch of old palaces and tombs. The Ming Tombs is called Ming XiaoLing. The first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was buried there. In front of the Ming Tombs is Plum Blossom Hill. It is one of the biggest plum blossom tree gardens in the world. Before it was called Plum Blossom Hill, it was known as Sun’s tomb hill because East Wu Emperor Sun Quan was buried there.

Next, we went to the house of Meiling Soong, the wife of Chiang Kai Shek. Chiang Kai Shek was the chairman of the democratic party in China. When the communist party took over, they fled to Taiwan.

After that, we had dinner with some of the Nanjing relatives.

The kids came after they got their homework done.

Finally, we went back to the hotel before we headed to Shanghai the next day. When we woke up in the morning, we watched TV in Gong Gong and Po Po’s room while Mom and Dad packed our bags. After we finished packing, we went to the train station, got on the train, and went to Shanghai!