One Shy of Seven: Brilliant Day in Hue, Vietnam

"Yesterday was absolutely brilliant." Thanks Carla! That about sums it up for me as well!
We arrived into Hue three days ago. I really had no idea what to expect since I haven't done enough of my own research on Vietnam and am sort of flying by the seat of my pants here. Being on a guided trip can make your research skills go a bit lazy. I guess thats not that bad of a thing though.
So Hue was the capitol of Vietnam for just under two hundred years. The capitol was moved from Hanoi to Hue because the war lords had taken over much more land in south vietnam and it made more sense to govern from the center of the country than from the north. Since communication was still by horseback I can see their point.
Anyway the old royal city is in the center and is absolutely HUGE! We took a walk over there two days ago and spent the afternoon wandering the old walls and imagining what it would have been like way back when... And then we happen upon bullet holes from american gun ships. What a strange mix of emotions as we're in the beautiful place that evokes thoughts of elephants & tigers dueling in the colosseum, royal gatherings for formal banquets, and everything else that represents the monarchical past of Vietnam and then WHAMOOO American bullet holes. I guess the hand to hand...
HOLD THE PHONE... I'm just sitting here trying to crank out a blog post and cannot help but mention that the cook here at the Victory Hotel is rocking, no wait completely ROCKING out to the band Chicago! He has their greatest hits on and it is completely awesome! Man this music brings me back to really long trips in the michaud-mobile on interstate 80 to the Jersey Shore as a kid.
So yeah back to reality... The bullet holes were a wake up call. They spark an emotion in me that I don't often feel. Its something I can't get my hands on - what is it that makes me feel so torn between pride and shame. Since I came to Vietnam I can't help but continue to dig into these emotions by trying to learn as much as I can about the war from their perspective.
We rounded that Royal City day out with a group dinner. We ate at a restaurant that was owned and operated by a deaf & mute man. He was so absolutely sweet and the food was great! He does this bottle opener trick where he opens six bottles at on time with a hand chop. That was sweet and is definitely a bar trip I'll bring back to the US.