First he took us to the Palace Garden of Prince Gong which was part of a Palace he built in 1770.  The garden section was recently restored and is open to the public.  The gardens contain several pools, small houses, a theater and a gazebo with a water channel for floating drinks.  The prince liked to play a drinking game where, if the drink stopped by you, you had to say a poem or drink the drink.  As you walk through the garden you walk thru an artificial cave to the Fortune Tablet which is supposed to give good luck to anyone who touches it.  We sure tried, no sense offending the tablet.  From the Palace garden we took rickshaws through the narrow alleyways to the Won Hai Lake.  The Lake is the center of the Hutong area with lots of restaurants, beer bars, souvenir shops etc. just like Olivera Street in Los Angeles.  We walked over the bridge and up the old opium alley to the Drum Tower.  The Drum Tower and the adjacent Bell Tower were used to alert the people to the time and to the start and stop of the workday before clocks.  Then back to our rickshaws and off to have lunch at a typical Hutong house.  Mr. Lee was our host and he cooked seven different dishes plus steamed rice in a little two burner kitchen.  Jerry gives him lots of credit.  The Hutong houses were originally four buildings built around a center courtyard.  When the communists took over, they appropriated the houses and converted them into homes for up to 11 families.  They have to use a community bath.  Things are better now.  Mr. Lee lives in a quadrangle with just four families.  After lunch May dropped us off at our hotel and we had a free afternoon.

Later we went for a walk toward the Catholic Church.  We only went a few blocks but the contrast with the Hutong area was light years.  The shops were all open and the ones with the good deals were jammed.  It became more crowded as we approached the church.  It was a very popular photo place with everyone, not just us.  I think virtually every Chinese person owns a digital camera.  The next block has a new mall on the corner and traffic is barred from the area.  The mall is very modern and has an open atrium much like the mall in San Francisco.  We then retraced our steps back to the hotel and picked up a couple of sale items that were too good to pass up.

This will be our last blog from China.  We leave very early tomorrow morning for Paris and will spend a great part of the next two days traveling and away from the Internet, so don’t worry if you do not see any updates tomorrow.