Sunday, October 11th looked like another nice day but a bit windy.

Today we are going to The Fragrant Hills Park to look for some fall colour. The Fragrant Hills are west of the Summer Palace and contains many maple trees and every year there is a red leaf festival there.

Tony picked us up early so we could beat the rush.

It was quite windy and cool as we walked around.

It was so windy that the cable car was shut down. We took a unanimous vote and decided we were not walking up the 1800 foot hill. We wandered around the base area to see as much as we could.

Unfortunately there really wasn’t much for fall colour yet. Or maybe it was fortunately as I would of felt bad going all the way up the mountain and not seen the colour.

There are quite a few temples and pavilions in the area.

As we walked around I finally found some colour.

I even found a panda.

There were some quiet areas to be found too.

Since we were’t climbing the hill it was time to make our way out. We noticed some interesting head wear in the crowd.

There were more and more people arriving as we were on our way out but the chair lift still wasn’t running.

Checked out the street on the way back down to the car.

I bought a selfie stick for Adam from a roadside vendor. (It broke the first day. I should of got a receipt.)

The parking area seemed a little sketchy.

We spent all of about an hour at The Fragrant Hills. As disappointed as I was about not getting to the top of the hill, I was looking forward to lunch more.

Tony dropped us off at the apartment and we headed over to Lake Rhine German Restaurant over at Lodu Gardens Park.

The food was pretty good but I was a little disappointed in my pretzel that had all of 2 grains of salt on it.

We wandered back towards the apartment.

And we kept walking through their neighbourhood.

After a bit we came to the best use of a minivan I’ve ever seen.

As we walked we found a good posing spot.

I found the mix of old and new in Beijing fascinating at times.

The derelict car sit on one side of a fence along a main road and the Toyota dealer with the older model car on the steps sits on the other side.

Along our way we passed the Canadian Embassy.

One thing I noticed about the Canadian Embassy compared to all the other embassies we had seen was the lack of a secondary metal fence surrounding it. All the embassies we had passed over the past 2 weeks had a metal fence near the sidewalk with a brick and or metal wall surrounding the whole complex. All of them except the Canadian one. Another thing they all had in common was no matter the nationality of the embassy, Chinese guards manned the gates.

I think I found where Mario gets his lives from.

Farther along our walk we came to the Lamborghini dealership.

On the other end of the building there is another pricey car dealership.

Lucille promised Curtis a treat so we stopped at Cows Creamery Ice Cream.

Surprisingly, I didn’t feel like ice cream but was happy to sit and rest for a bit.

Curtis’s ice cream craving satisfied, we headed over towards the Sanlitun area.

Sanlitun is a shopping and bar district that has a lot of high end stores and restaurant there. Of course, that doesn’t mean you won’t find some interestingly named places.

The area we were in was pretty interesting and it was easy to people watch.

We headed upstairs to the patio at Cantina Agave looking for the best margarita yet. (It was ok).

Lucille sat in the sun so she had her back to the table Curtis and I could see. It was interesting watching the couple that came along.

She helped him take off his jacket and scarf and fussed about constantly. I didn’t think she was nearly as hot as she thought she was and found them quite amusing to watch.

I laughed as she hand fed him and then put her scarf around him. It was the best entertainment of my visit I think.

Finishing off our drinks, we headed towards the 1949 Hidden City district. Saw a cool looking bookstore along the way.

Since it wasn’t far we arrived at 1949 fairly quickly.

I got to see more of 1949 this time than the last time I was here but I still didn’t see all that much of it.

1949 can only mean 1 thing – Duck de Chine. It was my favorite restaurant of my trip and Lucille and Curtis had told me whichever one I liked the best we would go back to it before I left to go home.

We didn’t order the duck this time – it was way too expensive and I only liked it, not loved it but I did love the Kung Pao Chicken. So we got an order of that and we tried the Lemon Chicken.

I was not disappointed with supper as it was as good as the first time I tried it.

We headed back to the apartment for my ritual games beating.

18688 steps today but it sure felt like we did more.

Headed to bed for my last night in China.