Aaron's parents and our oldest nephew, Connor Franckowiak, came for a visit for a week in March. We spent the weekend in Xian, which was fascinating!!! In 1974 some local farmers digging a water well discovered three huge pits containing a Terracotta Army depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. This was a form of funerary art that was buried with the Emperor in 210-209 BC, and its purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. In the three pits there are over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots and 520 horses and 150 calvary horses. It is reported that work on this mausoleum began in 246 BC, soon after Emperor Qin ascended the throne at age 13, and ultimately involved 700,000 workers. We were awestruck by what we saw there. I remember when I was young, my parents were able to see a few of the statues that were on an exhibit in Sydney. I never thought I would actually be able to go to Xi'an and see this enormous collection.
Our second day in Xi'an was Sunday. We went to church at the very small, but very friendly branch. Then did a little more sightseeing. We went to the bell tower in the pagoda in the middle of the walled city. It was very beautiful up there and we were enchanted by the musical performance that was given.
I LOVE the detail of the paintings on these beams in the pagoda.
Love him!
Beautiful costumes and I love those bells!
Sophie is just learning how to watch shows on the iPod... it is making our traveling days much easier!
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