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Before leaving Hue for Hanoi on the night train, we took a guided tour of the Citadel, the 'royal city' which was home to the Vietnamese Kings and the court for a few centuries until the Communists overthrew the French colonial rulers in the late 1950s (the French had allowed the monarchy to remain as puppet rulers).Some of the site has been destroyed by war, but what remains is very impressive and similar in grandeur to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. Best of all was the dramatic entrance through the huge outer walls, over the moat to the main gate, a very ornate ceremonial space with many shrines and ponds. When we visited we were able to watch performers rehearsing for the celebrations to mark the 15th anniversary of the Citadel's UNESCO listing, I hope for their sake it all went well because the director was taking no prisoners!!

We treated ourselves to lunch at Lac Thien then stocked up for the night train, which was great fun yet again, and mice free this time!