That is not the Summer Palace. It's a big temple on the other side of the lake. But it looked interesting so I photographed it.

Now, at last, we see part of the Summer Palace. It's not a palace, you see, but more like a park with buildings. The Summer Palace is actually a large outdoor space with gardens, walkways, and a manmade lake. They dug the lake, which is

Looking the other direction you can see the size of this lake. The lady in light blue is a member of my tour group.

This manmade island juts into the lake and is reachable by a walkway. Great place for a small acoustic concert!

At the Summer Palace there is a long, mostly straight-line covered walkway, said (by Guiness) to be the world's longest. Each segment of the walkway has paintings like these above (most segments are straight rectangles; shown here is a round junction).

You've probably never seen a marble boat before. No, it won't float. It was built as a luxury retreat for an Empress with time on her hands.

Here is another shot of the marble boat. This "honeydew" project is one reason that her name is still a metaphor for unmarried old maid in China -- she had a husband, but men all over China look to this Empress as a prime example of what NOT to seek in a wife!