Hue - Day 6

We had a full day planned today, but we headed out at a reasonable time of 9:00. We rented a car and driver for the day, which took us about 15km outside the city to the three old emperor's tombs we'd see for the day: Khai Dinh, Minh Mang, and Tu Duc. Each were similar in appearance and lay out, but each one had its own unique quality to it. The architecture was both Chinese and Vietnamese, and the overall temple layouts were definitely Buddhist.

Our next stop was the "official" symbol of Hue, the Thien Mu Pagoda, which overlooks the Perfume River to the west of the city. It had beautiful grounds around the pagoda, which would be beautiful in the spring and summer when all flora would be in bloom.

Lunch was at a very Vietnamese restaurant in the center of the city with nice traditional architecture. We ordered 5 dishes, and we have all decided that we enjoy the spring rolls wherever we go in Vietnam.

After lunch, we quickly toured the Imperial Palace, or the Citadel. This rather large palace grounds. The citadel was bombarded by the French and Viet Minh in the 1800's and by the Viet Cong and the Americans in the Vietnam War. Much of it was destroyed, but some buildings are amazingly still intact and others are going through a multi-million dollar renovation.

We went back to the hotel and rested for a couple of hours before taking a taxi to a restaurant that we had intended to go the previous night. It was a bit outside the city and was not what we thought it was, but it turned out to be a very elegant restaurant - Ancient Hue House Cuisine and Gallery. The food was decent, but the presentation of the food was amazing. They made flowers, animals, and designs all from food that they placed on your plate.

We have a long day tomorrow as we hop on a sleeper bus at 9:00 am for a 23 hour bus ride back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Be sure to check out the new albums online, including the new albums of Kathy and Jamie.