September 12, 2025

The Summer Palace is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces from the Qing Dynasty. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The palace was inspired by the gardens of South China and contain over 3,000 ancient buildings housing a collection of over 40,000 valuable relics. We went early to avoid crowds and heat again, and probably only walked thru a quarter of it in 3 hours before the heat and crowds got to be too much. All the Chinese were avidly watch the Military Parade on their phones as they walked around.

 When we got back to the Hotel, we were able to see on TV the recap of the Military Parade for the anniversary of China's 80th Victory Day. Photo's show all their new weapons of mass destruction, and the size of the square with thousands of invite only guest. They actually stop all manufacturing around Beijing for weeks ahead of the Parade, to make the air quality better. It  turned out to a hazy & stink hot day, I felt bad for all those soldiers who were out there, at attention, for hours!

Some of the World's scariest players in a row! Was so weird to be in town so close to them all!

By Patricia Patrick February 15, 2026
We got up at 6:45am to get to National Park Forts Walk trail in the hope of seeing koalas . Prior walkers mark trails with tree branches pointing in the direction of their sighting and we were luck enough to see 3 markers in our first hour of hiking. It is so stinking hot and humid the success we had made it bearable. The koala population on the island started with 20 brought over in 1930, to escape fur hunters. Today, the island boast 800 to 1000, and they are so cute and drowsy. They need 20 hours of sleep a day! The early morning is when they are the most active.
By Patricia Patrick February 14, 2026
Just off the coast of Townsville, Australia is a special little island (that used to be part of mainland, hundreds of thousands years ago). The island was formed by molten granite that was pushed to the earth's surface with volcanic force.Over time the volcanic overlay weathered away leaving an extraordinary landscape of rounded domes and boulders, many as big as a house and spectcularly perched. Over Seventy Percent of the center of the Island is a National Park. There is lots of wildlife here too - koalas, rock wallabies, snakes & birds.
By Patricia Patrick February 14, 2026
This is my third time in CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA and I really enjoy how walkable, clean and charming it is. The waterfront esplanade and lagoon area is a nice walk day or night. We had 2 nights here in the waterfront Shangri La Marina Hotel while waiting for the Ship to arrive and then 2 additional days in Port.