Category Archives: Museums

Day 472 In Beijing: Trip To Xian: Terracotta Warriors, Part 2.

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A view of the larger area in Pit 2.

A view of the larger area in Pit 2.

Jill and I continued on our way to Pit 2 and found it to be tiny compared to Pit 3 but much more personal and powerful.

There were many more Terracotta Warriors, and their horses, in this pit and it is was much more excavated than Pit 3, which they believe was the command center.

Pit 3, from what we’ve seen, is one of the newer pits to be excavated and is still quite unexplored at this time.

Pit 2 was much more developed, clean, and we had a very clear view of the statues.  It is full of the cavalry and infantry units.  There were supposedly war chariots here also.  It seems to have represented the military guard.

The horses, by the way, all used to have wagons made out of wood.

It seems that they people either burned them or they rotted with time according to the signs and information around the pit.

We were not able to see any descriptions of what the wagons looked like but I’m guessing they were very ornate and incredibly beautiful.

Speaking of beauty, the terra cotta warriors were originally even more beautiful as they were painted in bright blue, orange and other colors that have faded with time.

There were a few pictures of what they probably looked like and it would have been an incredibly impressive army to see set into the ground.

Not to say that this army wasn’t impressive enough but it would have looked like an army of warriors in rainbow colored armor.

By the way, the warriors were found by some farmers that were trying to dig a well and had been lost to history until that time.

Can you imagine just trying to dig a well and happening across the beginning of this massive army underneath your land?

I can’t.

By the way, Qin Shi Huang was the emperor that had these all built for him before he died at the age of 50.  He united all of China while being the first emperor of China.

Oh, in case you feel a little inferior at this point since this guy did all that, just add to his resume that he was the one that started the Great Wall of China.  And survived over 3 different assassination attempts.

 

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Day 471 In Beijing: Trip To Xian: Terracotta Warriors, Part 1.

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Many more soldiers being excavated.

Many more soldiers being excavated.

Jill and I interrupt this trip to Turkey and Greece for a short sojourn into China.

In case you didn’t realize, I tend to write my blogs after the event has happened.

Obviously this is a necessity because if I wrote them before they happened it would just be fiction and this is a, in as much as possible, a non-fiction blog of Jill’s and my journey through China and other countries that we will visit as we live in Beijing.

With that in mind, I want to jump into our trip to Turkey and put up some posts about our trip to Xi’an.

This actually happened just a few days ago, unlike our journey to Turkey and Greece which ended over a month ago at this point.

I could wait to write about Xi’an, and keep things strictly in chronological order, but this was a very short, yet powerful, trip.

Jill and I heard about EACHAM (European/American Chamber of Commerce) through our friend, Mike Shaw.

EACHAM sets up expatriates for 2 or 3 day trips, to major industrial conferences and expositions, and pays for our transportation, hotels, and meals.

Basically the expos want to have foreigners there and this is where we come in.

It is a heck of a deal, for us, because we get to see a different part of China and don’t really have to pay much for it other than some added extras of going to see things that aren’t on the tour.

This is where the Terracotta Warriors made our decision regarding going to Xi’an a very easy one.

We’d both seen lots of pictures of the Warriors and had set seeing them as a “must do” before we leave China.

When we were offered an all-expenses paid trip to Xi’an, about 1 hour from the Warriors, we jumped at the chance.

EACHAM paid for an overnight train to Xi’an, which took about 11 hours, and there were 4 bunk beds in our cabin.  We shared the cabin with a mother and her adult daughter and had a very nice time other than the beds being pretty hard.

We also met some of the other expatriates going up to Xi’an for the same conference and talked about life in China.

After we arrived in Xi’an, we set out to hire a cab and get out to the Terracotta Warriors.

It took about 1.5 hours to get there, as traffic was bad and there was a lot of construction, and $60 USD, but it was well worth it.

After exiting our taxi, and making sure the driver knew we wouldn’t pay until we returned to Xi’an (something we’d been told to do by others that have done the trip because the taxi drivers tend to leave if they get a better offer) we walked to the entrance of the attraction.

We saw that we could get a ride on a little electric tram and hopped right in to save time.

There were 3 different buildings to choose from and we decided to see the last one first (Pit 3) as the other two seemed incredibly packed and we were hoping they would empty a little bit before we visited them.

 

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Day 466 In Beijing: Topkapi Palace Harem, Part 2.

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Jill and me at the Harem.

Jill and me at the Harem.

Jill and I continued to meander through the Harem and continued to be overwhelmed by the beauty and style.

It is so disconcerting, in a positive way, to walk from a city that is fully engaged in the 21st century, with trains, cars, phones, and other “necessities” of life and then go to a place that is so quiet, tranquil and calm.

Well, other than the 20,000 or so other tourists in the palace as we walked around it.

Maybe that is an exaggeration but there are a lot of people and they do an excellent job of keeping the lines moving and making sure that tourists can see the exhibitions and not feel rushed at the same time.

It is so different from the tourist areas in China, which are overwhelmed with people, because so many people go on vacation at the same time.

Just to give an example: During the Spring Break vacation, here in China, 150,000,000 people travel within one week.

One Hundred And Fifty Million people.

That is half the total population of the USA who would be traveling, in one week, to a destination.

And back to work during that same week.

And many of those destinations are inside China so the transit system is totally overwhelmed.

It also is a sign of the times and how families are split apart since so many of the parents are working in massive cities, like Beijing, and only go home to see their children during these times.

There is an excellent movie, Last Train Home, that I would recommend to anyone that would like to get a feeling for what 150,000,000 people trying to get home, and then back to work, in one week feels like.

We had to deal with it when we visited the Great Wall, one time, and we will never do it again.

 

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Day 464 In Beijing: Great Palace Mosaic Museum.

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I love me a griffin eating some freshly caught prey!

I love me a griffin eating some freshly caught prey!

Neither Jill nor I had ever heard of the Mosaic Museum before this trip.

We actually didn’t hear of it until we were on this trip.

We bought a 3 day pass that allowed us to see a bunch of different sites and the Mosaic Museum was one of the attractions.

We decided to check it out, since it was free, but we didn’t expect much.

We were blown away.

The Mosaic Museum is about 1000 meters behind the Blue Mosque and a hidden treasure.

It is hardly noticeable from the outside, and if we hadn’t been asking directions, there is no way we would have found it.

There was a guard/ticket agent and he seemed somewhat surprised, and happy, to see us.

For about half of our visit, we were the only people in this amazing structure.

The mosaics seem to be from Emperor Justinian’s reign, which was about 527-565 AD.  They were found by two Turkish archaeologists in the 1930s and 1950s.

It originally covered an area of about 3500-4000 square meters and now is about 1900 square meters.

It supposedly has over 400,000 stones that were used to make the mosaics.

In other words, it is one massive mosaic.

Some are in excellent condition but most have seen the wear and tear of time.

Jill and I were, once again, very moved by this bit of history and art that has been found and restored.

 

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Day 463 In Beijing: Topkapi Palace, Part 2.

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A gorgeously designed room and ceiling.

A gorgeously designed room and ceiling.

Jill and I both realized that Turkish, unlike Mandarin, is actually quite easily to learn.

Their written language sounds exactly like it is spelled, unlike Mandarin, and we were able to have minimal conversations with people within a few days.

Nothing more than “hi”, “thank you” and a few other comments but it was definitely easy not to have to try to figure out the tones and indecipherable written language.

I lived in Japan, back in 1996-1997, and I was able to get along after 2 years of college Japanese and some time there.

The written language there, which is quite similar to the Chinese written language (I’m not going to start an war about who used it first) was much easier, in my mind, because the kanji was the first part of the word and then there were two other written alphabets that let you know the rest of the word.

Being that there were three written alphabets, it would seem much more complicated but it wasn’t.

This is because you only had to learn about 2,000 kanji, and the two other alphabets that were “add ons” and you could know everything.

In Chinese, it seems like there are around 14,000 written characters and that is just way too much.

Especially when they become something totally different as they are lined up and added onto each other.

I just don’t have the time, or energy, to figure it out.

Call me lazy.  I don’t mind.

The reason I bring this up is the “i” in Topkapi is actually pronounced like “uh” so it sounds more like “Tope-kap-uh” if it was pronounced correctly.

However, I actually never heard it pronounced that way so I’m guessing, since there are so many tourists that pronounce it, “Topkapi” that the Turks have started to do the same.

I could very easily be wrong, and probably am, and it would be interesting to find out.

As for the palace, it was built in 1460 and finished in 1478.  It takes up 700,000 square meters.  It was turned into a museum in 1924 and is one of the largest museums in Turkey.

It is truly impressive and Jill and I would like to spend more time there the next time we go and just sit and relax.

 

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Day 462 In Beijing: Topkapi Palace, Part 1.

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My love and me.

My love and me.

Topkapi Palace is huge.

It is stunningly beautiful and it is also hot as heck during the summer months.

This may or may not be obvious, from the shorts and tank tops we are wearing, but just to make sure of it, it was boiling.

That is why so many of the Turks go on vacation and the city is more empty than usual.

It still has around 14,000,000 people in it, which is a lot, but it seemed quite easy to navigate and take mass transit without being crowded and knocked over all the time.

When we hit Athens, it was similar but when we hit the Islands, they were packed because of everyone being on vacation and getting out of the cities.

It was an interesting experience since being “packed” in Greece meant about 1/1,000,000th of what we’ve become used to as being “packed” here in Beijing and China.

We could move easily, not have to deal with much traffic, and people seemed much more content to take their time and be courteous to each other.  It is the island lifestyle, I guess.

As for the Palace, there are a number of different buildings and exhibitions.

The Crown Jewels, for example, you are allowed to visit but you are not allowed to take pictures.

We probably saw more gold, and jewels, there compared to anywhere else we’ve been.

Maybe, in my case, the Vatican would have an equal amount but I don’t quite remember.

Either way, it was stunning and breathtaking.

We also had a light snack overlooking the Bosphorus and enjoyed that immensely.

 

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Day 457 In Beijing: Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Part 2.

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Probably my favorite display in the whole museum.

Probably my favorite display in the whole museum.

As I mentioned in the previous blog post, Jill’s and my trip to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum was cut short.

Why?

Because I turned off my cell phone, with the Turkish SIM card in it, and didn’t realize that when I did that, and then attempted to turn it back on, it would lock me out if I didn’t enter a pass code.

Now, I’m guessing that pretty much every single person in Turkey knows this, which is why they didn’t tell me about this, but since i’m a foreigner, I didn’t.

It is actually a fairly smart way to stop people from using your phone if they steal it since they wouldn’t know the pass code to get in and your SIM card would then be worthless.

They could still sell your phone, or put in their own SIM card, but it does make it slightly more of a hassle than in the USA where they don’t have automatic kill switches or locked SIM cards at this point.

I believe they are trying to pass a law to make automatic kill switches in cell phones in the USA but the phone corporations are against it and putting lots of money towards killing it.

Which means, of course, it would be beneficial to everyone except the phone companies since they wouldn’t have as many consumers having to buy phones when theirs are stolen.

In other words, it is only common sense to have a kill switch which is why the phone companies are against it.

But I digress.

We continued the tour around the museum for a bit and then headed down to the Turk Cell store to figure out what to do.

When we arrived, the salesperson that helped us yesterday was there and helped us right away.  He laughed a little bit at our predicament and was very kind.

We then prepared to head back but realized our ticket was for single entry and we weren’t going to be allowed back in.

At this point we were pretty tired and decided to take a break.

We knew we’d be heading out to see Jill’s friend, Kaan, in a few hours and just made the choice to head to the ferry early and take our time and enjoy the clean air, beautiful blue skies and blue waters.

All in all, I think we made the right choice.

 

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Day 456 In Beijing: Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Part 1.

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The beautiful sarcophagus.

The beautiful sarcophagus.

After lunch at the Sefa Restaurant, Jill and I headed over to the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.

Jill had told me that this is one of her favorite locations to visit because the buildings are gorgeous and the displays are amazing.

We were quite excited as we climbed up the hill and entered through the gates.

Sadly, however, it is mostly under renovation and so the buildings were mostly covered in scaffoldings and tarps.

We pressed on and went inside and checked out the displays.

Again, they were under renovation, and some seemed jammed into places where they wouldn’t ordinarily be, it was still very powerful and moving.

My personal favorite was the massive onyx sarcophagus right after we entered the museum.

It was at least 4 feet tall, 7 or 8 feel long, and it was as impressive as anything I had seen up to this time.

I stood there and just was amazed at the power and strength of it.

Sadly, I didn’t seem to take pictures of the cards next to any of the art pieces and so I don’t have many answers as to who they were made for, why they were made, or when they were made.

Hopefully, next time we go, we will be able to have more time to see each art piece and note where they came from and why they were made.

Our time in the museum was cut short and I will explain this in the next blog post.

Until then, enjoy the amazing pictures.

 

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Day 450 In Beijing: The Basilica Cistern: Medusa!

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Jill and me by the Medusa.

Jill and me by the Medusa.

Jill’s and my last post explained the Basilica Cistern but there is more to the story.

I thought the Medusa heads deserved their own blog post.

They are truly amazing and so out of place.

As you saw yesterday, there are a lot of columns holding up the cistern.

Two of them are very different.

They have two blocks of stone that are carved to look like the Medusa at the bottom of them.

No one is really sure why the Medusa heads are there, and some think that they are laid sideways so that the “glare” of the Medusa one turn to viewer to stone (as is the myth) but it is more likely that it is just simply to make sure it fit in correctly.

If you don’t know the story of the Medusa, it was a Gorgon.  This Gorgon was half-woman/half-snake and had venomous snakes for hair.

The creature was so horrid looking that, just by seeing it, one would be turned to stone.

Don’t worry though, Perseus beheaded her and she can’t hurt anyone now.

You can also see coins, and waves from the condensation dripping down from the ceiling, in the pictures.

 

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Day 448 In Beijing: Hagia Sofia, Part 5.

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The mirror over the exit reflects the mosaic.

The mirror over the exit reflects the mosaic.

Jill and I have back in Beijing for 2 weeks and we keep finding more and more amazing pictures of our trip as I write these blogs.

It is actually making us itch for another trip as soon as possible and rekindles our desire to live in both Turkey, and Greece, in the not to distant future.

There is just something about the people, the culture, and the land that calls to us.

I have lived in a lot of different places ranging from Healdsburg, to San Francisco, to Albuquerque (home of Breaking Bad!), to Edinburgh, Scotland, to Sendai, Japan and now to Beijing, China.

For some reason, Turkey and Greece just seem like home already.

Maybe it is just because we are on vacation but Jill lived in Turkey for 3 months, 3 years ago, and she absolutely felt like it was home.

This will be the final Hagia Sofia post for this trip, unless I run across more pictures and have to throw them in, and I hope you have enjoyed seeing this magnificent building through our eyes and lenses.

 

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