The Citadel is huge!! And is like a box in a box in a box. The outer Citadel is surrounded by a wide moat crossed by bridges at strategic points. There is a thick wall on the inside part of the moat with big gates where the bridges are. Within the outer wall there is a whole area where you have shops and houses and people live there. Because inside Citadel #1 is the Imperial Enclosure.
This is one of the big gates going through the wall...
There were some cannons here... but they are "fake" - never meant to be fired and just for show...
Whew... now we are in the Imperial Enclosure. There was an imperial palace here... And it was super hot!!!
Oh look... big cauldrons... I wonder if they use them for honey?
Let me check...
Nope, there is just water here and...
Floating money (and sunken money)! That note is 1000 Dong - about half a cent! I guess the Vietnamese don't have coins to throw into fountains and pools so they throw in their "small change" notes!
Within the imperial enclosure is something called the Forbidden Purple City. This sounded beary interesting to me!!! Was it purple?? No... it had actually been pretty much obliterated during the French War and the American/Vietnamese War... They are starting to rebuild some buildings - like this one - but it isn't purple!
Did I mention it was hot??? And not a stitch of shade for a furry little bear. This is inside the Forbidden Purple City. Only the emperor could come in here... and servants who were eunuchs.
Yay!!! Some water!!! This was a cute little pond with lotus flowers in it.
And a bit farther along there was a bridge across the pond to a pretty garden with bonsai trees. It was beary tranquil and peaceful here. I wondered where all the tourists were... but it was the middle of the day so they were being beary sensible and having lunch during the heat of the day!!
Me... I am traipsing around getting a little bear version of heat stroke! Oh look... a dragon... there are dragons everywhere in Vietnam. I finally learned that the Vietnamese believe that dragons scare away evil spirits so... they are protectors.
The imperial enclosure also had some cool artwork. If you look at this, you might think it was a painting or something but...
It isn't!! It's made from lots of broken bits of procelain... sort of a mosaic.
Down in the southwest corner of the imperial enclosure was a rebuilt temple area (it had also been destroyed during the war). But now it looks beary pretty.
More cauldrons... too bad they don't have honey. If I was Emperor Sandy, I would make sure they were filled with honey!! Not sure if it would be liquid or creamed though...
I even got to see some traditional Vietnamese dancers... They were beary good and made it all look so easy!
We sure wish there was honey too in those big urns! You could have taken a bath in honey Sandy! We love your hat too, great for keeping the sun out of your eyes. That citadel would sure be fun to play hide and seek in!
ReplyDeleteOnly a bath in liquid honey! If it was creamed honey, I don't think that would work very well. The citadel is a cool place for exploring!
ReplyDelete