Donna Swan-Harris and Jan Angelley
China – In October 2007, this trip began with a flight to Beijing, where the 2008 Summer Olympic Games preparations were well underway. Coleen and Gary saw the impressive Birds Nest Stadium that was very near completion. They enjoyed a seven-day river cruise on the Yangtze – AKA, the “Long River.” They spent three nights in Shanghai, the most populous city in the world.
Gary and Coleen flew to Xi’an in the Shaanxi province to visit the site of the Terracotta Army Warriors and Horses, a depiction of the armies of Qin Shi Huang Di, the first Emperor of China. By the time he died in 210 B.C., he had united warring kingdoms into one country, put an end to feudalism, and built the Great Wall that endures today as a monument to his power.
Farmers discovered The Army in 1974 while digging a well for water east of the Emperor’s tomb at Mount Li (Lishan). The purpose of the Army was to protect the emperor in his afterlife, a form of funerary art buried with him. Gary described the scale of the Warrior design as life-sized, where you see one “eye to eye.” There is an interesting article published October 12, 2016 on the National Geographic website by A. R. Williams that details the latest discoveries uncovered at the historic site, including a section that describes the “Chinese Game of Thrones.”
Gary and Coleen have marvelous lifetime memories of this trip that also included visits to the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. Coleen was impressed with the stunning design and beauty of the furniture available in the Xi’an province. This visit to China created some of their most enjoyable lifetime memories. Gary shared with me his personal appreciation for how this heritage is treasured and preserved by the Chinese culture over many centuries of time.
Russia – Peter the Great founded Saint Petersburg in 1703. It is an important port on the Baltic Sea, and was the capital of Imperial Russia for two centuries during the Romanov dynasty. While the central government bodies moved to Moscow in 1918, Saint Petersburg remains Russia’s cultural center. At this notable international destination for Coleen and Gary, their visit included tours of the Hermitage Museum, the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, the Peterhof Palace and Catherine Palace and Park.
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT MONTH.