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As the capital city of Shandong province, Jinan is widely known as the “Spring City”. Among "seventy-two famous springs", Baotu Spring is without question the most renowned one. Being situated right to the southwest of the city center , Baotu Spring has long been a postcard for its stunning scenery and peaceful view. Every year, thousands of thousands of tourists come here and enjoy the view, experiencing the wonder of “Number One Spring under the Heaven”.
It was a bright Sunday morning, the sun could bake people like cookies. Finally I got some free time after endless overtime at work, so I planned a trip to Baotu Spring with my friends. Perfect time to sit besides the spring and cool down. We hit the road at roughly 9 am, the moment after we got into the park, an overwhelming cool air came all over us, feeling so refreshing. There’s tons of spring streams crossing the park, forming a natural water net. You could see the spring water flow above on some gravel roads, some were slow, some were swift.
Since it’s weekends, the park was filled with families with happy kids. The children were all laughing with joy, holding water guns and other toys, enjoying the fresh air of the spring. Some kids are crying out loud, unwilling to leave the summer paradise.
We kept marching forward and headed to the core of the park-Baotu Spring. I've seen the pictures about “Three Water Jets” so many times from books, still it amazed me when I first saw it. Looking from the distance, there were three streams of water jets rushing above. The water was incredibly clear, giving people the delusion of the water level was low. The truth was it was a very deep pool. Another highlight we couldn’t ignore was the large swarms of goldfish in the pool. It looked extraordinary beautiful with such clear water. They swam at ease, and sometime rushed up to the water to eat the food which were scattered by tourists. It must be cool being a fish here.
A nice old man who's born and raised here told me, if the water volume were sufficient, the water jets can reach highs up to 26 metres. It looked a lot like three big bowls upside down. Many tourists stopped and took pictures to savor the moment. I was thinking to myself, that’s pretty much about the wonder of nature!
We took a seat in the small pavilion and chatted about what's going on with our lives, with cool breeze kissing the face. How I wish I could take a really long nap here and ease my messy mind!
Time passed so quick! Without knowing it, it’s afternoon already. It seemed that we completely lost in time here.
A senior staff from the park told me, besides the stunning view, it also got a huge variety of cultural activities and events, such as exhibition of traditional Chinese drawing and calligraphy, and Spring Festival lanterns as well as opera performance. I wasn't lucky enough to see them all but my trip was absolutely worth it.