Hue - Easrer Saturday

The train up from Danang (nearest station to Hoi  An) was not such a luxurious experience as our previous trip. It was perfectly adequate but had been working all day and was absolutely at capacity. Hence it seemed grubbier and while we sat waiting to leave the airconditioning didn't work so it quickly became warm and stuffy. When we did depart the carriages gradually cooled and the scenerey held our attention. We were travelling along the coast and around a succession of large bays. As we gradually climbed the view down to clear water and white beaches was beautiful. We were going up all the time through narrow cuttings and dense vegetation. At times there were villages and cattle grazing in amongst the jungle growth. Periodically there would be more views of the cooastline. The trip only took two and a half hours which was just as well because one glimpse of the toilet convinced me that I could wait. It wasn't obviously dirty just wet and well used.
Hue was a complete surprise as all the travel write ups focus on the bomb damage during the "American War". It is a large bustling city with everything that a tourist could need. Our hotel was the Midtown and it was exactly that; in the middle. It was 16 stories high and comfortable in a typical large hotel way. We walked out for dinner to a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet and each ordered the set menu. It was a large relaxed vibrant place with staff who were amazingly efficient with the orders. We had five small courses which gave us a good taste of the local favourites and saw that even the locals were ordering very similar dishes. We were amused when we saw that at the end of the meal the waiter was coming to the tables and saying "why don't you tell me what you had".  He then wrote out the docket  and collected the money. It was really the only way they could cope in the fast flow of arrivals and departures.
After dinner we walked around the city centre where the streets had been closed to traffic and crowds were out enjoying the Saturday night entertainment. There was some very good music and the girls were lucky to see a stunning Dragon Dance performed on stilts. Everyone seemed in very good humour.
Sunday morning we decided on the two sights we could realisically visit in the time available and hailed a taxi. Our first stop was the city's main Pergoda and monastery. It was a very ancient complex with a serenity which was not disturbed by the number of people visiting. We were there early which possibly perpetuated this impression. We strolled around the gardens and went into the
temple which was substantial but not as ornate as some we have seen. I had an interesting chat with a young Vietnamese man as we studied a cabinet of pottery figures. We agreed that they were unusual and he offered that he didn't know much about them but thought they were depictions of differing human emotions. With this insight they made a bigger impact.
We then taxied back towards the centre of the city to the aptly named Citadel. This is the ancient Palace and Military complex from the time when Hue was the capital of the country. It is huge and we knew that even though a large part of it was detroyed by bombing in the War we would not have time to see it all. Significant parts have been restored and there were large photo displays which conveyed the pomp and circumstance of the lifestyle of successive Emporers. The smaller buildings in particular, such as the Emporers Reading Room  were beautiful wooden structures with ornate tiled roofs and ceramic decoration.
Yet another taxi (very cheap transport) took us back to the hotel. Elise found the nearby French Bakery to buy our lunch and we ate it at the airport while we waited for our 1 hour 10 minute flight to Hanoi. This went very smoothly and we are ensconced in our central "Old City" hotel.