The Tang Dynasty by way of the Fu Xing Train!

We got up early and headed to the street to head to the train station.  Before I could get a Didi ordered, I heard somebody offering ride share to the people standing at the bus stop across the street.  I hailed over to him, and we worked out 50 yuan for the trip.  That was 25 less than I offered yesterday's driver, so I was, again, happy we didn't use him.  We found our waiting area with plenty of time to walk around and get a cup of tea.  The only place with black tea that I could find was McDonald's, but it was good.  When we got on the train, I dumped pictures onto my external hard drive and was able to throw some into Lightroom so they could be uploaded when I got wi-fi.  Then I sat back and enjoyed the ride.  I finished my Peking duck and nibbled some dried fruit I had bought in the hutong.  They had a little ticker running in the front of the coach.  I'll bet you'll never guess what I thought this one said at first!

It was a high-speed train.  If I remember correctly, the fastest it registered (that it told us) was 310 km/hr, which is slower than the bullet train I took in Japan, which moved in the 400s.  But, we got to Xi'an without incident.  I also learned how to pronounce the town.  I had been saying "Shi-on".  Turns out, it's closer to "See-on".

We didn't bother trying for Didi, and just grabbed a taxi to the hotel.  Just after turning the corner, we were greeted by kites flying.

Lots of skyscrapers in the new part of the city.

Soon, our driver pointed out the wall to the old town, where we were staying.

We drove along the wall for a while before turning in.

There were lots of people in traditional dress

And we drove past the Bell Tower

It's a nice hotel, as expected from a Holiday Inn Express, but situated a few doors down an alley.  I was a little concerned when the driver dropped us off in front of a 7-11 until they let me know to go around the corner for the hotel.  We got checked in and took a few minutes to rest before getting ready for our dinner show.

Everything you could need is down this little alley, from this barber

to this bakery.

The only problem was that I forgot that once I was using wi-fi in the hotel instead of my T-mobile signal on my phone, I would, in fact, be subject to the Great Firewall, and the Google on my tablet wouldn't work.  We were staying at a Holiday Inn, and that is a chain that tends to require you to sign onto the wi-fi from a browser page.  The only browser I had was Google, and Google is blocked in China.  So, no internet on the tablet, meaning no uploading pictures to the cloud via Lightroom.  I downloaded the UC browser onto my phone with hopes that I could transfer it to the tablet somehow.  It didn't finish downloading until it was time to go to dinner, so I didn't get to try it.  

There were some nice blow-ups in traffic circles just before and after the wall.

We had hot pot.  Believe it or not, this was the first time either of us had had hot pot, so we weren't sure what to expect or what to do, but the staff were great, walking us through it and making sure we didn't take any of our food out before it was properly cooked.  We had one lady that was specifically assigned to babysit us.  She kept watching us and bringing us various pieces of western style silverware and laughing with us (AT us a little, maybe).  I asked her if most westerners were as clueless as us, and she said, "Yes, please."  So...

After dinner, we went downstairs to the theater, where we watched a live performance of a portrayal of a princess who was documenting the experiences of her mother, the great Empress Wu.  Empress Wu Zetian or Wu Zhao was the only undisputed female ruler in the history of China.  It was an excellent show.  I practiced taking action shots while standing in the back.  I think I got a few good ones among the many trash ones.

The musicians

This is an example of what most of my shots look like.  I got the shot just after they landed, or just as they turned their backs, or covered their faces, etc.

One of my favorite dances was with these sleeves

We hailed a rickshaw in the rain to come home from the show.  He got lost and we didn't know where we were going.  

I did get a nice shot of the Bell Tower one of the many times we passed it, though!

Ultimately, we finally made it home, and the driver chose not to charge us.  I tried to Alipay him something, but he wouldn't take it.  And the baker gave us a free pastry when we bought some.  It was an amazing night.  I think I'm going to really like Xi'an!