Our Viking River cruise stopped at Wuhan. First, Viking's included tour took us to the Museum to see the collection of artifacts from the ancient tombs found near Wuhan. The star of that visit was the carillon concert in the museum's auditorium, a carillon made of bells carved from stone. Actually, the real ancient carillon bells were safely stored in the exhibits. We heard a reproduction, but still, bells made of stone making music. That's unusual regardless of age. Aside from the concert, it is a very interesting museum, and Viking's schedule really wasn't long enough to do it justice. We were in Wuhan on a Sunday. The museum was closed, but Viking had an arrangement. Consequently, the Viking tour group were the only people in the museum. This probably held down the crowds. The 150-200 people on our cruise only filled about half the auditorium.
The Musical Stones
After lunch on the ship, there was an included or maybe an optional tour to see an old pottery factory. We have had our fill of pottery factories visited on several tours, so we decided to skip it and go into Wuhan. Our guide book said there was a worthwhile ancient monastery built on a small island in a lake near the center of town, so we headed for that. It was an attractive old building in an attractive setting, and we all but had the whole place to ourselves.
Island Monestery . Note the crowds
Crossing the little bridge that connected the island to the mainland brought us into Wuhan's main park, and an hour or so of local color for entertainment. Weather permitting, every Sunday afternoon the locals put on their dancing shoes and gather in the park for few hours of dancing on a circular concrete plaza. Various types of dance music was played on a not too loud loudspeaker, and the dance was on, revealing a range of skills with some in the Fred Astaire class.
Wuhan Dances
