Day 3 - Beijing

Today we decided to lay low after the big day yesterday. We started off with breakfast in the hotel...ahhhhh the western buffet is turning out to be our biggest meal each day! We met up with the rest of the families. I can't tell you how fun it is to finally put a face to the folks we have been chatting on line with for the past year or so! They are a great bunch and we are having so much fun with them all!

Ed and I got massages today... holy cow! We got to get them together so that was fun... and the total cost was less than what one of us would have paid back home!

Josh worked on homework, we both did some reading and just enjoyed the day. We finished out the day by attending an acrobatic show. It was really cool! Including pictures below.

Tomorrow we get off to an early start and head out with the goup for the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and a Hutong Tour. Gotta go to bed.... still trying to adjust to the time.... Josh was out like a light and Ed wasn't too far behind. I nodded off during dinner last night (not cool) and fell asleep on the way back from tonight's show! LOL.

We get Gracie in just under 2 days now.... can't believe it!!! Stay tuned. Thanks for checking in and a special thanks to those who are leaving comments and/or sending e-mail! It's great to hear from everyone... what a pick me up!!

Stacey - No more spending on things I can get in GZ...thanks for the heads up... I have spread the word....we all thought we were doing so well too! : )

Sign 'o the Day:

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Day 3 -

Day 2 – Beijing

We decided to take a tour of some of the places we wouldn’t be visiting when the rest of the group arrived. On the agenda:

Summer Palace
Temple of Heaven
Tiananmen Square
Forbidden City

We were surprised with a few extra stops along the way as well. It was a loooooong day! We started at 8 am and didn’t return to our hotel until 5:30 pm. When we weren’t on the bus we were walking and walking and walking and walking. I think I shall rename this trip the “China Diet” since I am not eating much and walking a ton! LOL

Because we have a lot of photos to post, I am going to give each stop it’s own entry. Enjoy!

Day 2 - Beijing - Summer Palace

We started out our tour by visiting Summer Palace. This palace was built for the royal family to relax and enjoy time away during... you guessed it, the summer! There is a beautiful man made lake that sits in the middle of it all and to say the entire place was breath taking would be an absolute understatement. There is so much history here. Our tour guide shared many stories about the royal family that built these grounds. The large rock formations were brought in from all over China for the emporor since he liked rocks when he was a child. I think all little boys love to collect rocks but holy moly! : ) We ended our visit to this site by taking a boat across the lake... just beautiful.

After the Summer Palace we went to a pearl market and then to cute little resteraunt which I am sad to say we didn't eat much from. We have been pretty good at trying out new foods but let's just say the food was a little bit too authentic at this place. Although, they did have a tray of "American" hot dogs available to us... they were sliced and placed on sesame seed loaves with lettuce and tomato... okay. : )

Day 2 – Temple of Heaven

This is also known as Qigu Hall and it was the spot where the emperor of the Ming and Qing dynasties prayed for good harvest in Spring. While there are many temples scattered throughout Beijing, this is one of the best known. There were two other halls but both were being renovated for the ’08 Olympics so we didn’t have access to either. Temple of Heaven grounds include beautiful landscaping and parks where we watched locals enjoying the weather and each other. We climbed to the top and the view of Beijing was amazing! We could even see a ferris wheel in the distance… one of those really big ones like the one on the River Thames in London. The grounds surrounding this temple we could hear traditional instruments being played, people singing and playing. People of all ages were enjoying the day. I was taking pictures of a couple playing a paddle type ball game. They each had two paddles and bounced/balanced an odd shaped ball. They asked if I wanted to join in and let me tell you… I did but our tour guide was moving on and I had to decline.

Day 2 – Tiananmen Square

This was built in 1417 during the Ming Dynasty and is the gateway to the Forbidden City. Initially it was used to declare in ceremony to the common people who became the emperor and who became the empress. Today Tiananmen Square covers 440,000 square meters and is now a relaxing place for the common people to fly kites and socialize. On holidays, the entire square is covered with fresh flowers… They were getting it ready for the national 7-day holiday that begins on October 1st so there was a lot of activity.

Day 2 – Forbidden City

Forbidden City was forbidden territory for common people during the rule of the royal family. The grounds are made of thousands of rooms…. 9,999 rooms to be exact. The number 9 in China is a very lucky number that is why they never went for the 10,000th room. They also felt that the 10,000th room was occupied by a god. Once again, tons of the buildings were being renovated so we weren’t afforded a great view at times. Our guide took us straight up the center of the city so we weren’t able to explore the side halls. I don’t think a single day dedicated to touring this site would allow one to truly enjoy themselves. There is just too much to see.




At the end of the grounds was the Imperial Garden. BEAUTIFUL!!!! I am including pictures from there as well. We go back to this site on Friday with the Bethany group so we will have the opportunity to visit the other gardens and buildings we missed.

We then went to visit Jingshan Park which was across the street. BEAUTIFUL!! I wish I could post more pictures but it takes several minutes to load just one so I'll have to end this post with this one from the park.



We ended the afternoon having tea in the park at a Tea House.



For those of you who know us, you know we are quite the tea aficionadoes! This was MY temple of heaven!! We participated in a traditional tea ceremony and we're bringing some home! We drank jasmine tea with real flowers in it! It was like drinking a flower... none of the tea was what we are used to... the tea is actually hand rolled balls, pellets, leaves, flowers.... amazing stuff!



Josh really was having a good time... I thought this photo was pretty funny though!

A common scene in local parks...