Berry's SEAJ trip Day 8: Being a bum in Hue (6/13/15)

After the long, grueling day yesterday, I took it easy today. I had breakfast and then walked to the citadel which was where the emperor stayed when Hue was the capital of Vietnam before it moved to Hanoi.

View of the Citadel (Imperial City) from the outside as I was walking towards the entrance gate. Berry is excited to see some of the history inside.

Berry just finds these war machines wherever he goes. Yes those are fighter jets in the back. 

Keeping the Berry at bay. Good job Citadel Moat.

The Citadel has many of these fortresses built into the walls. It was meant to protect the country's leader at one point in time so makes sense.

Map of the Citadel grounds. Berry is studying for the test later.

Berry making his way around the moat to get into the Citadel grounds. Beautiful building.

The welcome bridge into the grounds of the Citadel. Berry cant hold back his excitement.

Lots of lilly pads in the moat as we head in. 

We finally got onto the grounds and the amount of space this guy had to live in is monstrous. It definitely is a complex.

Berry appreciating the beautiful interior of the buildings. Gorgeous red and gold with photos of the area both past and present. 

Courtyard between the buildings.

Berry loved the windows/doors of these buildings. 

Loved this lantern's colors. 

Berry just looking at the pictures of the place in various times of history.

One of the pictures looking at the grounds during a monsoon rain. I found this picture really cool.

Beautiful piece of artwork in the buildings. 

Berry loves gazebos and we found one. 

Berry photobombed my picture of the alter? Dragons gold and stone alike. 

Some of their shrubs were animal shaped. Berry made friends with the turtle shrub.

Berry looking back at the gazebo, turtle shrub, and golden dragon. Winning!

The quad looking back towards the flag on the fort we were at earlier.

Started exploring the outskirts of the grounds and found this pretty wall. Berry liked it a lot.

Willow tree on the grounds. Berry enjoying a day of exploration.

I had to convince Berry not to jump in the moat. 

Berry crossing the bridge on his lonesome. 

Berry found another awesome gate to walk through.

One of the streets in the complex. Empty! I cant imagine it was like this when occupied.

Berry wanted to take a break from walking around and enjoy the beautiful day.

Berry then found a stairway down into the moat. Was a struggle keeping him out of there but the view was nice.

Even within the complex, there are moats separating the different buildings. Must make our way around to get there.

Shrine on the way to the theater. Small but pretty.

Wall of the theater area. Berry wanted to go meet the shrub snake (left of picture) but we had to go in to explore the building. 

Imperial Theater where they would put on performances for the emperor and still put on performances (I was not around in time to see one). But the paintings were beautiful and the downstairs had artifacts from the hall's history and the different outfits people would wear for performances. 

Berry wanted one final picture as we were leaving out of a different gate than the one we entered. 

Berry and I hanging out inside one of the entrances to the citadel grounds. I am essentially a young indiana jones. 

A large compound of buildings and historical exhibits (covering up to the 1950s), so I walk around a bit and check it out before heading back to the hostel. Love these old Asian architecture buildings. On my walk back to the hostel, I cannot find any street carts to eat so I just grab a late lunch at the hostel. I then hung out with some travelers who are figuring out their time in Hue and we talk about our journeys thus far. After hanging around the hostel and relaxing that afternoon, I head out to get dinner. I walk around the city a bit before heading into an Indian restaurant and just had lots of great food and a mango lassi. After dinner I went back to the hostel for a beer and wound up meeting Thinh who was a brand rep for Huda beer, a local beer partnered with Carlsberg. We chat about our countries, beer, and other topics before I headed to bed.

Indian dinner in Vietnam? Was delicious.