More from the Summer Palace

Sadly, I have few pictures from the Summer Palace because we were simply not allowed to take pictures inside any of the buildings. One interesting story to tell – as I mentioned, we visited the building that was built for the 14^th Dalai Lama (the one who is still alive today, living in exile). It was phenomenally ornate and beautiful with tons of art all over the walls and incredibly carved wood all over the outside walls…

 

 

Guess what? The Dalai Lama hated it because it was too opulent. He preferred hanging out at the much more austere building built for the 7^th Dalai Lama. We got to go in there and it was a tremendously spiritual experience. The room the Dalai Lama prayed and received visitors in was beautiful, but not in a crazy artistic way. There were some pillows, some tapestries on the walls, a few places for people to bow down, but not a lot else. There was incense burning when we came into the room and you got a real sense of calm in that room. For some of us, it was emotional. The fabulously opulent other palace conveyed none of that feeling. It was easy to see why the Dalai Lama chose to hang out in the old building instead of the new one.