Travelog for: Anton Bär

Heading to the north, we arrived at the Mahavira Hall.
I know nothing about Buddhist temple. I can hardly find a Buddhist temple like this in my hometown.
It seems that every temple should have a Mahavira Hall as the center building

Dear mama papa and little owner,
The photo below is the Relic Stupa of Huayan.
Huayan founded Tanzhe Temple thousands years ago.
Mia told me a legend about him.

Once upon a time, Huanyan was riding a dragon traveling around the world. One day, he found a prefect place in mountains to build a monastery. But he also saw 9 dragons were living there who seemed in charge of this beautiful area. Dragons are well known as their bad tempers.
Huayan saw a black dragon producing water and having fun himself in a deep lake.
He spent some time observing the black dragon and saw him transformed to a beauty tricked villagers who came begging for rain. By the way it was so dry as a deserted place down there not far from those dragons.
Huayan can't stand this anymore, he tried to negotiate with the black dragon but failed.
Ummm...then came the fight.
Yes Huayan beat the black dragon. The black dragon promised to make it rain and safe the village, he even turned to be the decoration on the roof of Mahavira Hall after the project completion.
Well dragons are dragons, how boring it would be to merely stay on the roof. The black dragon planed to escape at a thundery night. Unfortunately he was caught by Kangxi Emperor who was just about to visit the temple. The Emperor gave order to add an extra structure on the roof of Mahavira Hall to chain the dragon.

Oh poor guy, I just saw him on the roof! I should have talked to him to comfort him.

Did you see that?
Magnolias are ready to bloom. Spring is coming!
We took a rest beside the bamboo forest, it's my favorite color green! So bright so beautiful!
The last pic is a dragon I found today.
I reckon this kind of decoration shows that Emperors always came here long time ago.
You should come here if you visit China mama.
Love
Anton

After the visit at temple we went hiking in the mountains. 

Morning my dear mama papa and little owner,
I stayed at home these days and I met a new friend Cherry Lola. 
She travelled long way from America.
Rocky Raccoon also arrived today! He is a lovely raccoon from Switzerland. He's been to Italy, that's really cool! Wish I could go to Italy someday.
Always love
Anton

This is the memorial archway on Qianmen Street.
The tablet on it reads 'Zhengyangqiao', qiao means bridge.

Dear mama papa and little owner,
How are you? Here are some photos I took on Qianmen Street. 
Remember last time I went to Tiananmen Square? It's not far from Qianmen.
People come here to buy souvenirs, clothes, jewelry.
On this street you can also find most of Beijing food you've heard.
Like Beijing Duck, Beijing Noodles...and all kinds of snacks!
Simão IV also came today. Remember we had a wonderful time together on Chinese New Year.
All the best
Anton

This is Tianfuhao, a prestigious brand which was established in 1738.
Wow, their pig elbow souce recipe was classified as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of the nation in 2008.

We took group photos in front of the Daoxiangcun shop. 

Just right beside the Qianmen Street, there is a narrow street called Zhubaoshi.

Heading to the west, we passed through a hutong called Langfangsantiao.
I saw a big menu and a fancy moped.

When we were waiting for the traffic lights, I saw the Railway Museum. 
Sounds interesting, maybe I could go visit there next time.

I took these pictures at Fuxingmen.
The street on the 1st picture below is the Second Ring Road of Beijing. The 2nd picture is Changan Ave.
On the 3rd picture you can see the buildings of Beijing Financial Street.

Dear mama papa and little owner,
How are you? Today we rode bike along the Changan Ave.
There are some important buildings on this avenue.

1. CCTV building, the Spring Festival Gala was held in there.
2. Military Museum
3. The Capital Museum
....Fuxingmen............
4. The People's Bank of China, they print RMB
5. A building about telephone
6. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
7. Another bank
8. Xidan, a shopping area
9. Beijing Books Building, Mia always went there with friends and she can stay there all day when she was a little girl.
10. A building about telegram
11. Zhongnanhai, the President of China lives there. It's just the gate in the picture, Zhongnanhai is really big inside.
12. Just passed by the Tiananmen Square 
13. Wangfujing, another shopping area

Our route was from west to east about 8km in total. 
If we take subway line 1, it starts at Military Museum Station and ends at Wangfujing Station.
Missing you
Anton

Dear mama papa and little owner,
I woke up this morning and looked out the window. The sky was so blue! 
MooseS Slowly-Slowly Eliott and I decided to take a walk outside. Before that we needed to find a place to have breakfast.
Well it was a late breakfast, cause it was almost 11:00 when we got to the restaurant.
After the meal we stood on the higher place to see further. "Look! There is a bus stop down there. Why don't we have a bus trip?" MooseS suggested. We finally got on the bus No.1 which is running along the Changan Ave...
Did you see the flowers on the photos? Yay spring is coming!
Always love
Anton