"Rippling waters shimmering on a sunny day, misty mountains shrouded in rain; Plain or gaily dressed like Xizi; West Lake is always alluring." These are the words used by the celebrated Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo to describe Hangzhou?s West Lake. To be honest, in my heart, Hangzhou, the name is replaced by West Lake; hence, Hangzhou is also alluring.
I had never thought West Lake abutted on the street of Hangzhou, because I thought West Lake was at the far suburb of the city. Through some streets, we arrived at West Lake. Yes, the West Lake was in front of me. It was the West Lake at where Xu Xian and White snake met, it was also the lake which brought some inspiration for Qiongyao?s love stories, and the lake which lots of poet intoned.
I felt abrupt because it seemed that I even had not wakened up from my dream when I saw it. Actually, the West Lake, which looked like a girl, was an atroceruleous lake with a row of willows stood at the two sides of the white jade banks. There are a lot of bridges over the West Lake. Such as Jingdai Bridge, Xileng Bridge, Kuahong Bridge, Suolan Bridge, Yingbo Bridge and so on. The first bridge I walked to was Broken Bridge. In generally, the bridge is arc with only one aperture. It is said that after a snowfall, when snow is on the more exposed side has melted, with the shaded side remaining white, it looks as if a long white belt has been ripped apart on the bridge, thus earning the name "Melting Snow on the Broken Bridge". It was the place where Xu Xian and white snake first met and felt in love with each others.
We walked along the bridge, passed the Jingdai Bridge; we entered the scenic area of ?Autumn Moon on Calm Lake?. Unfortunately, we didn?t see the autumn moon because it was daytime. We had to seek the next time to drink with my friends under the moon.
The high Pagoda we saw from far away was Leifeng Pagoda; a famous artist named Luxun mentioned it in his article. Today, the pagoda has been reconstructed. It is said that Leifeng Pagoda was built at Wu and Yue periods; the former name of it was Xiguan Brick Pagoda. The hill was called sunset hill, that?s why we call the scenery ?Sunset Glow Over Lei Hill?. There were five floors in the pagoda, but we didn?t need to climb the steps, as we used lifts up and down. There are various murals in the pagoda, which tell us the story about Xu Xian, white snake and Fahai Monk. Every guide would narrate the fantastic story to their tourists.
We saw the typical Sunset Glow over Leifeng Pagoda, as the Pagoda looked especially majestic when it was surrounded by the golden hues of the setting sun. With combination of a traditional aesthetic style and modern architecture techniques, Leifeng Pagoda afforded a view of West Lake in its entirety.
The well known Late-night Bells were in the Nanshan Street, a row of bells reminded us here was Naping Hill. I was wondering that whether the bells rang at right.
As we hurried to the Ling Yin Temple, all sceneries left us deep impressions. When I closed my eyes to rest on train, even though I was tired, I still felt the satisfaction and I missed the Lotus standing in the Atroceruleous Lake.
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