Weekend in Xi'an | Part I

We had a great weekend in Xi'an. There are a few things we would have done differently, but overall it was a great little weekend trip from Chengdu (especially now that they have the high speed train and it is easy peasy to get there). We took a 5:30 train to Xi'an and arrived a little after 9:30. The one thing I would have done differently is to arrive both ways (there and back) at their bedtimes which is 8pm.  We try to be flexible on vacation, but everyone operates better when these two are tucked in by 8pm. The other thing I would have done is buy Everly her own seat on the train. This was a little tricky because there were only 3 first class tickets on the way there, but on the way home, I definitely should have "splurged" and gotten Everly her own seat. And by splurge, I mean spend $30. Seriously, what was I thinking?!?!

^ a little ice cream in the train station before we left because we found a Dairy Queen!! ^

^ no pictures of the train ride, perhaps I was too overwhelmed?, but by the time we made it to our hotel it was past 10pm and we tried to collapse into bed (although the air conditioning wasn't working that well in the hotel room so no one slept that well). anyways, that was a long introduction to tell you that we asked our tour guide to drive us by a Starbucks before we headed to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. it was more than needed. ^

^ in the car ride, we got the history of the Terra Cotta Warriors from our tour guide. p.s. Wes found this tour company online and it was a very well spent $200 for them to take us around all day in an air conditioned, private van. and she spoke English. and she loved the girls. it was really a great tour. anyways, if you are wondering about the history, there was a ruler who came into power when he was 13. a few years later, he wanted to take over the other six rulers to unite China so one by one he killed them and united China into one country (money, language, etc.). he was very worried about being protected in the afterlife so he had a team of people build these terra cotta warriors to protect his tomb. because he didn't want anyone to know about it, he killed all the people working on this project when it was complete (this part of the story was a bit much for the girls to take in). he later was poisoned and buried not too far from the terra cotta warriors. years later, a farmer was digging a well and discovered a terra cotta warrior. since then a lot of work has been done by archaeologists from all around the world and has become of of China's main tourism draws. I do have to say, the story is fascinating and it was surreal to see in real life. you can not imagine the size of these pits.^

^ it is actually about an hour outside of Xi'an so when we got there the girls burned off some energy before we went to explore. ^

^ our first stop was the bronze horse. ^

^ I don't have many pictures, and I am just going to be truthful, there were a gazillion people in this small space and we popped in and out very quickly. ^

^ we went to pit two first and were awestruck at the size. ^

^ you can see part of the horse and the soldier that was uncovered. ^

^ this is what protected the terra cotta warriors - they believe there are more under those roofs. ^

^ gigantic. they have left this pit largely untouched. ^

^ our sweet tour guide, Rosa. ^

^ another benefit of a tour guide - family pictures! ^

^ on the right hand side of the pit, they have several soldiers and horses that have been put back together. ^

^ the details were fascinating. ^

^ these sweet girls have gotten to explore several really cool places. ^

^ Emma was taking some pictures for herself. ^

^ Everly wanted to pose like the terra cotta warrior. ^

^ we ran out of cameras to pass out so she settled for using her tablet to get some of her own pictures. ^

^ our guide was explaining to us that their hair tells us about their rank. ^

^ this is one of the few that they have been able to preserve the original color on. ^

^ next, we headed to pit three which is the smallest of the three pits. ^

^ here, they had reassembled the terra cotta warriors (some complete and some not complete). ^

^ then we moved on to the most famous (and my favorite pit), pit one. ^

^ love this picture the tour guide got of us ;). ^

^ this pit was exactly what I thought it would be like. ^

^ rows and rows and rows of soldiers and not one of them like the other. ^

^ at the very last spot, the crowds were crazy huge! we stepped out just as quickly as we thought about stepping in ;). ^

^ outside, the girls found a cool place to run out their wiggles. ^

^ love this picture of Evsie's. ^

^ tree huggers. one, quite literally speaking. ^

^ our guide took us to a place to eat, we figured the girls wouldn't eat much so we picked up some watermelon for them on the way. ^

^ they moved their watermelon party across the street. ^

^ Wes and I ate a delicious bowl of noodles and a Chinese hamburger! ^

^ while I went to go buy Emma and Everly a kite to fly later that afternoon on the city wall, Wes caught a picture of the girls playing leap frog :). and me walking back :). it was a great morning in Xi'an. ^