Today (Feb 2nd- happy groundhog day, by-the-by) was the first official day of our tour.
First we visited teh Hoa Lo Prision - also known as the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ thanks to the many American jet fighters who enjoyed a "holiday" there during the war. It is a beautiful french style building form the outside but obviously quite stark from the inside.
Next we were back off to the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh to see the One Pillar Pagoda, Presidental Palace and the homes in which Ho Chi Minh lived. - he was a very modest man as we learned; choosing to live in a small house-on-stilts rather than the palace.
Last stop was the Temple of Literature. This ancient confucian sanctuary was the first educational institute for Mandarins. It's a lovely sequence of five courtyards areas filled with ponds, statues, stone stele, grand pivilions, a drum to signal the beginning of exams and a bell to signal the end (Nick may choose to write some more insightful facts about these "statues and such"... but that's about the best I can do...It was VERY pretty.)
The rest of the day was ours to fill with a final wandering of the city. Stay tuned for Nick's Pagoda post if you'd like to learn more!
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