Reunification Palace

Next up on our city tour was the Reunification (or Independence) Palace.

From their pamphlet:  The Palace was constructed in 1962, inaugurated on October 31, 1966 on the ground of the Governor General of Indochina's Palace (designed by the French in  1868).  It was built within the area of 12 hectares and designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu, who won the Roman Grand Prize.  It includes 4 main floors, 2 mezzanines, ground floor, and a basement.

 

After the inaguration, that Palace was the residence and working place of Mr. Nguyen Van Thieu - President of the Republic of Vietnam (Oct. 1967-Apr. 1975).  On April 30, 1975 the Liberation Army's tanks crashed through the main gate of the Palace and forced Mr. Duong Van Minh - President of the Republic of Vietnam to surrender unconditionally to the revolutionary government.

 

In November 1975, the Political Consultative Conference for the national reunification was held in the Palace.

 

On August 12th, 2009, it was recognized as a special National Historical relic by the Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

 

Nowadays, it is one of the most interesting places in Ho Chi Minh city for domestic and foreign visitors.  Moreover, it is (was) also the venue for government meetings, special events, receptions and banquets for Heads of state... (all that has now been moved to their city hall as tourism has made it too busy of a place to hold governmental functions)

Meeting room

Artwork from the Chinese occupation

Uncle Ho

Ho Chi Minh never had any children, but he "cared so for his country and his people" that all Vietnamese affectionately call him "Uncle Ho" and adopted him into their families.

One of many Map/War Rooms

The President's office -

With a door to escape to the bomb shelter below.

Where the President and First Lady met their guests

There's a significance to the colors of this rug and the number of talons on the dragons feet that I was going to remember, but we ended up seeing so much that I'm currently clueless.

The fountain in the courtyard of the President's (former) residence.

As you can see, this was all so very interesting to Naomi, she just had to tune out so she wouldn't be overwhelmed by the wealth of information she was receiving!

The library

The family dining area

The First Lady did this artwork herself

 The tanks that attacked the Palace

The DMZ of Vietnam

Equipment in the bomb shelter.

Field radios

The President's bedroom in the bomb shelter

A route of escape!

Ho Chi Minh City

We got in late last night, and were up early this morning prepared to see Saigon.  Our first stop was the "Notre Dame Cathedral".  I was very surprised that there was a church here as I had read that there is Christian persecution in Vietnam, but our tour guide, Mai, said that about twenty percent of the population is Catholic.

Dragon dancers

 Right next to the cathedral is the post office which was originally built in 1886 by the French.

Ho Chi Minh 

The tall, older building is the building from which the last US helicopter left Vietnam at the end of the war.

Heading to Warmer Weather

We're off to Vietnam and Cambodia!

Checking through Korean Customs 

 

 

We had a good 2 hours to kill, so we mosied around for a bit, and look what we found!

Practicing long division, subtraction, and art.

Teaching Naomi how to write her name

But Naomi decided she would rather scribble 

Lunch is served!

We also saw this place, and decided to go there for dessert so Tristan and David didn't loose all their manliness in all that pink!

Yummy tiramisu

 The kids ran off some energy on the playground:

Naomi had a blast going down the slide!  She would go down, and then run around to climb the stairs and go again. 

Boarding time!

See you in Vietnam

Polar Bear Plunge

My dear friend Stephanie convinced me that we should do the Polar Bear Plunge.  I had mentioned it to the kids, and they were really excited about it, so there was no turning back at that point.  I won't lie though - I tried to forget about it this morning when it was in the teens... but, Stephanie called to tell me that she was still going, so that meant I had to go too.

David trying to convince me to "turn right" and go into the deeper water.

My response?  NO WAY

!

Stephanie made the right - and then had to wait to get out!

Exiting the pool trying not to slip on the snow and ice that is on the pool deck.

It was sooo cold! 

I was feeling terribly disappointed with myself about just running through on the wading pool side, not even getting wet up to my knees, so David and I decided to go one more time and do it right.

Rising from his beautiful belly flop. 

Running through as fast as I can because it was really, really cold water! 

When David and I got out we were freezing!  It felt like needles pricking every inch of our skin that was wet, and the snow that we had to walk across was actually warm on our feet.

Warming up with our hot chocolate and coffee, and most importantly - our clothes!

 

We had a fun experience with this, but I'm not sure I'll ever do it again - I just don't like being cold all that much!