Xi'an to Beijing

We were able to get a later flight to Beijing today, leaving in the afternoon instead of the morning. That gave us a little more time to explore Xi’an since we missed a day with the plane problems.

This morning we visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and while we toured the grounds, we were unable to go inside. It’s been closed since the May 12th earthquake, which caused some cracking. Xi’an is located in the province directly north of Sichuan, which was the epicenter of the quake. “April” (pictured outside the pagoda) said she was giving a tour in the Terra Cotta Museum when it struck, sending everyone running out of the building. When she returned home that evening, much of her furniture, including a piano, had moved. The quake is still a topic of conversation here.

We also visited a jade store and an art gallery that features the work of local farmers (and where Leah and Cheryl tried their hands at calligraphy) before having lunch at a restaurant that specializes in dumplings.

Our flight here to Beijing was actually on time. The only problem with the trip was that security officers at the airport confiscated from Leah’s violin case the rosin she uses on her bow because they said it was flammable. No one had even checked the case up to this point. She still hopes to play on the Great Wall; maybe now it will just sound a little scratchy.