August 22, 2024
Medieval Chester Daytrip
Five of us, David, Wendy, Tracy & Karen ( sadly cut out of picture) set off Monday morning to explore Chester. An easy 45 minute train ride from Liverpool. Chester has the most complete city walls, oldest racecourse and largest Roman Amphitheatre in Britain, plus a 1000 year old Cathedral and tons of shopping. David's app gave us a narrated tour from atop the city walls. Which we wonder for a couple of hours before the drizzling rain drove us to seek a warm cozy spot for lunch. Then we did some strolling & shopping and returned to Liverpool in the late afternoon. We rested a tad and then regrouped with other for a Thai dinner. An easy fun day!
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In March of 1974, some local farmers outside Xi'An, China are digging a well and accidentally hit one of the great archaeological sites in the World! They were paid one day's wages for the find, roughly 4 USD! The Terracotta Army was dubbed the 8th Wonder of the World by France's President in 1980 when he came to visit and wanted to meet the farmers, the oldest was then, 89 years old.
Xi'An, China has been on my must do list , for awhile. The story of the Terracotta Army has fascinated me, since I first heard it. What I didn't know too much about, was the actual City of Xi'An and the walled inner City that remains today. It was built from 1370 to 1378 during the Ming dynasty on top of the older Tang dynasty foundations. There are 9 miles of City walls, they are 39' high, 45' to 50' wide at the top and 55' to 60' at the base. There are four main gate towers and the only draw bridge restored is at the South Gate. There are 98 ramparts, watchtowers, battlements and a wide surrounding moat. It one of the oldest and best preserved fortifications in China .
After our Panda watching we went to Erling Park for some good city views. Green space in Chongqing is rare, it is truly a concrete jungle with a few planters and trees smattered in along the sidewalks.