Wednesday in Shijiazhuang - part 2

This afternoon we went to a beautiful spot in the city called Century Park. Here is the entrance.

Amy called this structure a “broadcast tower”. You see the needle on top and the upside-down cone beneath it? Under that cone is a dining room with a 360 degree view that is 100 meters - roughly the length of a football field - above the ground. This is where we had dinner. Tables lined the outside wall of the room on a very slowly rotating floor. By the time we completed dinner, we had made a little more than one complete revolution so we had a spectacular view of the entire city. Unfortunately the sun was going down and good photos were impossible.

I don’t know what this gentleman was looking at.

I mentioned to Amy that we haven’t seen grass this green in a l-o-n-g time because of the drought conditions back home. The landscaping in this place was beautiful.

There was a very serene lake in the middle of the park with paddle boats.

Strange looking boats indeed. Some of them looked like little UFOs. It was funny to see them meandering around the lake.

I love the contrast in this picture between the young and the old.

Split pants still make me giggle. We were mooned!

We tried to get the girls to pose. Easier said than done. Eliana was tickling Karys in an effort to get her to smile.

Karys was latched onto big sister.

This little lady couldn’t have stood more than 4 feet tall.

Am I a lucky man or what?

You can’t see it in this picture but the young man reaching over the water has a very thin fishing line. He’s fishing for goldfish.

There was an area in the park where some older people were exercising. This group of men were gathered around a set of high monkey bars demonstrating feats of agility and strength. Show offs!

Our van driver’s little 5-year-old daughter joined us later. Eliana was her typical shy self when they first met but then they started playing together and exploring the park. They got along well despite the communication barrier.

This guy was spinning tops with a whip. Impressive...and loud.