Hue and the Nguyen Kings

   In 1802 Nguyen Anh aka Gia Long took power from the Tay Son dynasty to be the first in the line of Nguyen Kings.  He established his seat of power at Hue instead of Thanh Long (Ha Noi [soaring dragon]).  The Nguyen's "reigned" during the French occupation until Ho Chi Minh declared independence in August of 1945.
   Hue was our favorite stop on our trip to Ha Noi.  Although I was not feeling well in the evening Bernie and Victor went out and visited shops and bakeries and enjoyed Hue at night.  The next day before we left we visited the ancient Citadel.  Oh by the way, the 1968 Tet offensive during the American war was not the first time in Vietnamese history that they celebrated Tet early and attacked to surprise an invading army.  They did it twice to the Chinese.  Anyway the Citadel is a UNESCO site and has been under restoration from the destruction of American bombs and rockets since 2005.  I am including many pictures here. 

    There was a large group of high school students visiting while we were at the Citadel.  All of the young women were dressed in beautiful Ao Dai and did not mind being photographed with us.

   There is one way to get help with the restoration!

    Some of the areas still being worked on.

Above is some areas where the restoration is completed.  Below is the Kings theater

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                                           And there is Bernie silhouetted in the doorway.
    I will  be catching up with more pictures of our stops along the way, and some pictures of our time in Ha Noi, in future entries.  We could have spent much more time wandering around the ancient Citadel.  It is beautiful there and when the restoration is complete this will be a large gem in the crown of Vietnamese tourism.  Sooooo next vacation visit beautiful Viet Nam.
Chao tam biet
Jim