Beautiful scenes on our walk to the Vasa Museum
Koen and I love visiting museums when we’re doing city trips, so we had to visit the Vasa Museum. To quote the museum’s site:
“The Vasa ship capsized and sank in Stockholm 1628. After 333 years on the sea bed the mighty warship was salvaged and the voyage could continue. Today Vasa is the world’s only preserved 17th century ship and the most visited museum in Scandinavia.”
Victoria & Albert Museum
I was so happy we were in time to see the exhibit Balenciaga Shaping Fashion at the Victoria & Albert Museum. To quote the V&A site “This exhibition examined the work and legacy of influential Spanish couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga, with over 100 pieces crafted by ‘the master’ of couture, his protégées and contemporary fashion designers working in the same innovative tradition.”
Ready for brunch
We started our second day in Chelsea at The Ivy Chelsea Garden for brunch. Chelsea is one of my favorite neighborhoods and Koen and I both really love the brunch at The Ivy, so I definitely wanted to take Koen’s family here!
Arriving in London, first stop: Granary Square in King’s Cross
For Christmas, we gave Dook and Els a 3 day trip to London in February. I really love London and have been lucky enough to go quite often over the years, so I volunteered to create the itinerary. Not everyone had been in London before, so I created a 3 day introduction to London planning!
Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest
Luckily after lunch the sunshine came out for our visit to the Temple of Heaven Park, built in 1420. I had read ahead of time that it’s a park where the elderly spend time – in the morning doing exercises and in the afternoon playing cards. Didn’t disappoint!
Lonely Planet describes it as:
A tranquil oasis of peace and methodical Confucian design in one of China’s busiest urban landscapes, the 267-hectare Temple of Heaven Park is absolutely unique. It originally served as a vast stage for solemn rites performed by the emperor of the time (known as the Son of Heaven), who prayed here for good harvests and sought divine clearance and atonement. Strictly speaking, it’s an altar rather than a temple – so don’t expect burning incense or worshippers.
Koen and me with our new friends Nicole and Adam
Unfortunately for our last day in Beijing, the weather wasn’t so great. It had cooled off quite a bit and we had rain all morning. That didn’t stop us, though! We still ventured out to the north of the city to the Summer Palace! When we were traveling from Moscow to Siberia, we made new friends who also happened to be ending their trip in Beijing. They had just arrived and were able to meet up our last day!
Fresh faced before the climb!
Mao Zedong once said “He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man”. No trip to Beijing is complete with a visit to the Great Wall of China, one of the New7Wonders of the World! Such beautiful views!
In front of The Tiananmen, or the Gate of Heavenly Peace, a monumental gate in the center of Beijing, widely used as a national symbol of China
Of course no trip to Beijing is complete without a visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City! So for our first trek out, we headed to Tiananmen Square which is opposite the Forbidden City.
Entering Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Although the snow and the cold temperatures made us cancel our trip into the mountains of northern Mongolia, we chose instead to explore Gorkhi-Terelj National Park and hike up to the Ariyabal Meditation Temple, where we crossed the “Bridge of Heaven” and climbed 108 stone stairs that lead to the main temple with 108 small stupas and 108 prayer wheels around the temple.
Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue
For our third day in Mongolia we decided to visit the Genghis Khan Statue Complex on the bank of the Tuul River at Tsonjin Boldog, where according to legend, he found a golden whip. The monument was completed in 2006 in time for the 800th anniversary of Genghis Khan’s coronation. The statue is symbolically pointed east towards the birthplace of Genghis Khan. The 36 columns around the visitor center represent the 36 khans from Genghis to Ligdan Khan. Once inside, you can also climb to the top for a panoramic view!
An American in Antwerp 