It is truly a small city in its own right, and the enormity of it dulls the novelty to some extent. It's easy to imagine what it must have been like in the time of the Emperors. Built in the early 15th century, it was designed to convey the incredible wealth and status of the Emperors. Peter supplies us each with a small tape cassette and player, and we walk along the 0.75 kilometre central path to a running commentary by Roger Moore. It's actually very good and very informative.
People crowd round the entrances to the central buildings.
The marble paths, laid for only the Emperor to use, were not designed for this kind of traffic. I'm glad I came now, it may soon be too late. At the North gate of the city, the Emperor's Garden is still an oasis of peace and tranquillity, even with all the people. A sobering thought, that the strange rocky mountain in the garden was to remind the Emperor of the real countryside outside. Being Emperor was fairly claustrophobic.