July 7 – Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace
We awake to sunshine – what a surprise, but we suspect that we are in for a warm day in Beijing. We meet up with Belinda, Amy and Randy, and Larry and Sharon who adopted a 15-year old several years back, and are back in China visiting her birth province.
Our first stop is Tiananmen Square, which is a huge open square that today is a mob scene. We are approached by persistent vendors as soon as we get out of our van, and finally Belinda recommends that we ignore them entirely if we want to make any progress. There are literally thousands of people in the square today – a sunny Saturday brings out mobs of tourists. It’s an impressive place, and guards stand near the flag grounds under the protection of umbrellas.
After crossing the square, we enter the Forbidden City. It is hot here in the former Emperor’s private palace grounds. Today is a day for lots of water, popsicles and a parasol.
The Forbidden City is 1,000 meters by 700 meters in size, surrounded by high walls. Even so, there are 9999.5 rooms in the palace, and it takes us the better part of 2.5 hours walking in the hot sun to navigate from one end to the other. And we thought the Great Wall was a tough climb! Emma is rather popular here, being frequently stopped by the crowd so that pictures can be taken with her. Ever the ambassador, she smiles for every last one.
We cooled down with frozen popsicles (mango flavored for Karen and Emma). I chose a green popsicle for myself, which turned out to be green-bean flavored. Let’s just say I don’t need to try that again.
We awake to sunshine – what a surprise, but we suspect that we are in for a warm day in Beijing. We meet up with Belinda, Amy and Randy, and Larry and Sharon who adopted a 15-year old several years back, and are back in China visiting her birth province.
Our first stop is Tiananmen Square, which is a huge open square that today is a mob scene. We are approached by persistent vendors as soon as we get out of our van, and finally Belinda recommends that we ignore them entirely if we want to make any progress. There are literally thousands of people in the square today – a sunny Saturday brings out mobs of tourists. It’s an impressive place, and guards stand near the flag grounds under the protection of umbrellas.
After crossing the square, we enter the Forbidden City. It is hot here in the former Emperor’s private palace grounds. Today is a day for lots of water, popsicles and a parasol.
The Forbidden City is 1,000 meters by 700 meters in size, surrounded by high walls. Even so, there are 9999.5 rooms in the palace, and it takes us the better part of 2.5 hours walking in the hot sun to navigate from one end to the other. And we thought the Great Wall was a tough climb! Emma is rather popular here, being frequently stopped by the crowd so that pictures can be taken with her. Ever the ambassador, she smiles for every last one.
We cooled down with frozen popsicles (mango flavored for Karen and Emma). I chose a green popsicle for myself, which turned out to be green-bean flavored. Let’s just say I don’t need to try that again.
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