Summer Palace, Hutong Tour, and Marlin's Birthday!

I've made up for the lack of photos and video with several of both today.  After the challenge of self-guided navigation yesterday, we took it easy today and hopped on a tour bus to visit the Summer Palace and then went over by Houhai Lake to ride some rickshaws on a tour of the hutongs in the area.  After a breather in the afternoon, we met down in the hotel restaurant to celebrate Marlin's 22nd birthday!  While we spent part of the afternoon conspiring to acquire a birthday cake, the Capital Hotel actually beat us to the punch and, having noticed his birthday on his passport, had already arranged to have a cake for Marlin.  I just finished putting students into taxis where some are going to see Peking Opera while others are going to see an acrobat show.  The few of us still around the hotel are going to stroll over to Tiananmen Square to watch the lowering of the flag.  Anyway, here are the pictures.  Make sure to check tout for several videos.  Great Wall tomorrow!

The Summer Palace

Music at the Summer Palace

Sidewalk calligraphy

Hello friends!

The Long Corridor

Learning about freshwater pearls

Hutong tour with Kai

Happy birthday, Marlin!