YuYuan Garden
So you can see the pictures, basically these gardens were beautiful and you can see the creators turning over in their graves there are so many people trouncing through there.
[Tickets to get into the Gardens:]
But, the attention to detail is amazing and there are so many twists and turns... even with all the people there, you get a sense of the serenity that must have existed. The big thing here is the ROCKERY... these giant rocks they brought in... of course, I kept thinking "SHRUBBERY"... as in "Bring Me a Shrubbery!" from Monty Python.... but anyway... enjoy... oh, the other thing that you'll see lots of are 1) The dragon heads (whose backs top the walls around the garden in an undulating fashion)- the big thing with those is that the 5 claws were snipped down to 4 after it was built so as not to offend the Emporer by signaling more power than him. and then also there are 2) these little creatures on the corners of all the buildings to help ward away fire apparently also 3) check out the roofs... they actually had to mow them in the past.... there is grass up there!
There were gorgeous buildings tucked throughout for contemplation, reading, etc...
The details were amazing... even the finials were carved exquisitely...
For a government protected site... looks like some of the dragons teeth are missing and/or falling out.
Sacred Fish:
The Crooked Bridges were made that way to ward off spirits... who apparently are so dumb in the afterlife that zigzags confuse them.... just designed to be a more peaceful place in general.
