Day 2 Beijing

Today was Saturday in Beijing.  We visited Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City, had a wonderful lunch and then the Temple of Heaven and finally the Chinese Acrobat show.

On the way there we drove past the broken rainbow as Laura called it when we were here in 2007.  Took this photo for her.

Wow the crowds in Tienanmen square was beyond anything we have ever seen.  People were standing in line for hours to just pass by the tomb of Chairman Mao.   Our guide knew all the right lines to be in and where to stand to avoid crowds.

 There were a lot of people here today.

 This is the line into the building, it wrapped around the building and into the square.  Estimated 2 hour wait time to see the tomb.

 Looking across at the Forbidden City

Freaky that Chairman Mao's eyes follow you where ever you go.

Then over to The Forbidden City where the huge crowds still gathered.  We walked through and saw the key sites and worked our way South to North and out the back and along the moat.

 On of the bridges inside. There are 4 courtyards before the inner and 4 after.  The Emperor was well protected.

 This gives an idea of the size of buildings.

 Just a few of the crowd in the courtyard.

 Some of the beautiful art work on the buildings. Imagine how old this is but so intricate.

 This is one of my favorite pieces.  Legend has it that ice roads were made so this could be slid here into place years ago.

 Joshua had fun.  He learned to take photos today too.

 This is in the rear courtyard

The moat around the Forbidden city.  Beautiful view from the North side.

Our guide took us to a nice local restaurant for a traditional lunch.  So many wonderful flavors.  Joshua loved the green beans and finished them up.

We then went to the Temple of Heaven which is beautiful to see.   Again it was crowded but we got around nicely.

The final tour of the day was the Chinese Acrobat show.  Robin and I have been several times before but really enjoyed the show today.

 The special affects have gotten much better over the years.

This guy was amazing on top of the stack of chairs.

Lady spinning umbrella's on her feet.

 Guy on a rope walk standing on his hands on an object.  He was amazing.

The ladies on the bikes are always neat.   The finally was 8 motor cycles in the dome of death at the same time. 

We went out for a short walk this evening in search of some fast / cheap food.  There is not much left in this part of town.   We finally managed to find a Domino's Pizza.  The store had a mix of English and Mandarin signage but did have good pictures on the menu.  We managed to place our order and enjoyed a good takeout dinner.

This is our last night here.  We see a few sights tomorrow and then fly to Hannah's province and we meet her on Monday.   The sight seeing will be mostly over and our focus will be on her and her needs.   Stay tuned for more updates.  We appreciate you following along with our journey.

Pray for her to bond with us and for her emotions as she goes through this change in her life.