Beautiful Fall

We've had beautiful 60+ weather and I feel very fortunate that I was able to get out twice this week and enjoy a long walk and explore 2 new parks.  We also had midterms so school was busy and it's hard to believe 1/2 of the semester is already over.  I just learned that the assistant dean of the English department is going to be a visiting professor at the U of M this next year.  What a small world.  We had fun talking about schools for her 8 year old son, places to live, traffic, shopping etc.  Another highlight was getting a new chair.  I can now plug in my little space heater and pretend I'm sitting by the fireplace and work on schoolwork.  The government doesn't turn on heat until November 15 so it can get chilly at night.  The heat is then turned off on March 15 so a warm fall and an early warm spring is something to wish for.  Here are a few pictures to share my new parks.

I bought a couple of his prints

Small Wild Goose Pagoda Park

Small Wild Goose Pagoda

all ages enjoy the parks

I was asked if streets were crowded?

entrance to art market

At the art market

crossing the rocks reminded me of fun hikes along Lake Superior

You never know who you'll meet in the park!

Many Disney fairy tales in cut outs along this wall

Fall tree trimming outside our apartment

Relaxing in my new red chair :-)

Xi'an City Wall and Shaanxi Museum

Today was beautiful and I took advantage of it by walking to the city wall along the mote which has all been developed into park area.  Many people were out enjoying the warm day so I hope you enjoy the pictures.  I also biked around the top of the wall and then met friends for a trip to the Shaanxi Museum.  A student from another university was with us and as an art major, he was a very informative guide.  Xi'an has had many ancient finds in recent years and many of the artifacts go back 3,000-6,000 years.  We're talking serious history.  Many areas have not yet been excavated because they don't have the technology to preserve some of the very ancient discoveries and so for now they are staying underground.  After a long day of walking and biking, we treated ourselves to pizza.  I hope you enjoyed the MEA break and also had some beautiful fall weather so you could get out and enjoy a good walk or bike ride.