Thursday - our second to last day in Xi'An

Everyone had a bit of travel exhaustion, so we had a lazy morning.  We did homework and then turned on the TV for the first time.  I've been very impressed that ZiRong has not asked for the TV to be turned on once - just has had no interest in it.  But Eric and I were tired and wanted some downtime.  The girls found rythmic gymnastics on the TV and had a dance party.  :)

When we went out for lunch, we found "black sesame with red velvet sauce" soft serve ice cream and had to try it.  Surprisingly tasty!  Slightly peanut-ty and tasty, if you can get over the fact that it looks like liquified charcoal.

After lunch, we boarded a bus and went looking for some interesting alleyways we had spotted on our travels yesterday from the bus window.  Gold mine!  We spent several hours wandering a warren of tiny alleyways lined with food and household wares.  These were the kind of alleys that sold clothespins, scissors, and you name it - no tourist tchotchkes.  We did not see another foreigner the entire afternoon.  Along our wanderings we found a mosque built in the 740s - that is not missing a 1 - built 1300 years ago!  These vendors in the photo above were passing time playing a game - maybe Go?

One of the vendors was selling freshly ground chili peppers - you could get them dried or in a paste.  Definitely looked like it would be very spicy.  The blue triangles in the photo below are Harmony's cat ears.  :)

Then we took the bus home and got ice cream.  We have learned the hard way that if we get ice cream for ZiRong, we need to allow a LOT of time for the consumption and we don't want her anywhere near the hotel room.  :)  The first night we got ice cream in the evening after dinner and thought it would be finished by the time we got back to the hotel.  Not so!  ZiRong still had 90% of her ice cream.  Then as we walked down the hallway in the hotel, ZiRong's hand tipped slightly and she left a 3 foot streak of ice cream on the hotel wall.  Oops.  :)

In the evening, we had planned to go see the light-and-water-fountain show at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, but learned that it was closed for an unknown reason (repairs?).  So instead, we went across the street to the 7 story mall and rode escalators.  ZiRong is CRAZY about escalators.  When she sees one, she giggles and runs toward it.  7 stories of escalators up, 7 stories of escalators down.  Repeat.  Kid never gets tired of escalators.  :)