Our Trip to Lushun

We went to Lushun last weekend, the southernmost port city of our peninsula here in China. It has been occupied by both the Russians and the Japanese, and holds military significance for China as well. Until a few weeks ago, Westerners were not allowed to visit.

We stopped on the way to view some cherry blossoms, at a place that our driver recommended. It was quite beautiful, despite the hordes massing around us - as usual.

In Lushun, we went to the top of the hill where there is a big cenotaph (is that what you'd call it?) built by the Russians overlooking the whole city. Lushun is actually quite beautiful, especially by Chinese standards, and the streets were remarkably clean. We were very impressed.

Since we have the kiddos, and it took in excess of 2 hours to get there (thanks to a broken water main in the road on our way causing a major traffic holdup), we didn't have time to do much in Lushun. We went to the peak, then got take out lunch as the girls had both fallen asleep in their carseats. They woke up just as we were finishing lunch so we stopped at one of the parks with all the calisthenic equipment, including a strange swing and metal teeter-totter, and the girls played.

Next weekend we're going to spend Saturday night downtown in a hotel so we don't have to drive so far to get "somewhere" during the days. We're also going to try to actually attend the Catholic Church downtown, and plan to continue this tradition (i.e. a weekend night downtown) once per month and actually getting to the Catholic Church. Though we are actually quite pleased with our Christian fellowship community at the Shama in Kaifaqu, but for a Catholic, nothing beats the true Mass.

Here are photos of our weekend!

At the Cherry Blossom viewing locale - Lucia sporting her new spring jacket:

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Daddy and Lucia overlooking the river on the bridge above the blossoms:

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Lucia on the bridge - she has this obsession with walking on curbs, and was trying to do it here...

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It's so nice to have Chen to take our family photos!

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And here we are at the Cenotaph in Lushun:

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Overlooking the bay:

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This is the oldest railroad station continuously in operation in China - since early 1900s, I believe (and built by the Russians):

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Swinging at the Calisthenics park:

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Here are the girls on the teeter totter together:

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