I am not exaggerating when I say that we arrived in China and hit the ground running.
Art had done laundry as soon as we got into our room the night before.
The breakfast buffet was lavish! We'd never experienced anything like this before. The myriad selections were mouthwatering and international.
We rushed through breakfast and came down promptly for the 8 AM meeting time in the lobby. Nobody was there.
That's when we realized we forgot to reset our watches.
Sheesh!
The skies were blue and cloudless. Needless to say we didn't need all those masks we brought.
Tian'anmen Square can hold half a million people and means Heavenly Peace although that isn't what we think of when we of the West see it.
Israeli premier Netanyahu was in China thanking the country for sheltering 30,000 Jewish refugees during WWII. We also learned about Feng-Shan Ho who was a Chinese consul general who saved about 2,000 Jewish people during the war by issuing visas until he was ordered to return to China. He ended up settling in San Francisco after the war and was made ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ in 2001 for his efforts to save thousands of Austrian Jews.
I've read stories about the Forbidden City, but the awesome size of the place surprised me. I guess just the sound of Forbidden makes it an intriguing place. The Forbidden City was home to the Emperor and one and a half times larger than Tian'anmen Square.
Through rather grimy glass we could make out the rooms the Emperor, wife, concubines, eunuchs, and other royal retainers lived in.
These roof water spouts caught our eyes. They reminded us of gargoyles you see in England.
We were told that these creatures are not really dragons, but mythical creatures with the scales of a fish, body of a snake, face of a horse, claw of a bird, etc. Red and yellow are predominant colors. Red keeps evil away. Yellow denotes power.
The Forbidden City was built between 1406 to 1420 and consists of 980 buildings. It is a World Heritage Site.
Like other countries of the world, there was a moat surrounding the area. It was bigger than what we've seen elsewhere.
Charlie told us these were Chinese cherry blossoms.
After all that walking, we were ready for lunch!
Charlie said this restaurant had the best Peking (or Beijing) duck.
The problem was Charlie ordered so MUCH food for us that by the time the Beijing Duck arrived, we were stuffed. He did tell us to save room, but we were hungry and ate too much at the start.
Charlie never ate. He was paying attention to what our food preferences were and how much we were consuming. He also got to know what we liked to drink.
Ummm.... I was rather liking the Chinese beer.
Don't tell mom.
I'm getting exhausted just thinking about this day. Right after lunch we were on our way to the Temple of Heaven where the Emperor prayed for his people.
Here's the Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests! Darn it! I forgot what the symbolism of those three tiers are surrounding the hall.
And here's the inside of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The Emperor had to fast for three days before coming here to pray for a good agricultural season.
Back on the bus and on to the Summer Palace next to Kunming Lake which was a resort of the Empress Tzu Hsi. She had this lake excavated to farm fresh water pearls for jewelry and skin lotions.
The top photo is of a Buddhist Temple of Longevity on the left and a Llama temple on the right.
The bottom photo is of Kunming Lake. There are 17 arches on the bridge because when the Emperor stands in the middle there are 9 arches on each side and 9 is the imperial number.
This was a wonderfully cool walkway with painted panels along the top. Each panel is of a different scene in the area.
I rather liked the wildflowers growing on the roofs.
Another huge meal as Charlie adjusted his understanding of what our food tastes were. This evening we were trying Shu Zhong Xian Beijing cuisine. Everything was scrumptious! We all wondered how much weight we'd be gaining on this trip. Then again with all the walking we were doing, we didn't feel all that bad about eating so much.
This was actually the first day of our touring and we were exhausted when we collapsed on our beds that night.
Art had done laundry as soon as we got into our room the night before.
The breakfast buffet was lavish! We'd never experienced anything like this before. The myriad selections were mouthwatering and international.
We rushed through breakfast and came down promptly for the 8 AM meeting time in the lobby. Nobody was there.
That's when we realized we forgot to reset our watches.
Sheesh!
The skies were blue and cloudless. Needless to say we didn't need all those masks we brought.
Tian'anmen Square can hold half a million people and means Heavenly Peace although that isn't what we think of when we of the West see it.
Israeli premier Netanyahu was in China thanking the country for sheltering 30,000 Jewish refugees during WWII. We also learned about Feng-Shan Ho who was a Chinese consul general who saved about 2,000 Jewish people during the war by issuing visas until he was ordered to return to China. He ended up settling in San Francisco after the war and was made ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ in 2001 for his efforts to save thousands of Austrian Jews.
I've read stories about the Forbidden City, but the awesome size of the place surprised me. I guess just the sound of Forbidden makes it an intriguing place. The Forbidden City was home to the Emperor and one and a half times larger than Tian'anmen Square.
We were told that these creatures are not really dragons, but mythical creatures with the scales of a fish, body of a snake, face of a horse, claw of a bird, etc. Red and yellow are predominant colors. Red keeps evil away. Yellow denotes power.
The Forbidden City was built between 1406 to 1420 and consists of 980 buildings. It is a World Heritage Site.
Like other countries of the world, there was a moat surrounding the area. It was bigger than what we've seen elsewhere.
Charlie told us these were Chinese cherry blossoms.
After all that walking, we were ready for lunch!
Charlie said this restaurant had the best Peking (or Beijing) duck.
The problem was Charlie ordered so MUCH food for us that by the time the Beijing Duck arrived, we were stuffed. He did tell us to save room, but we were hungry and ate too much at the start.
Charlie never ate. He was paying attention to what our food preferences were and how much we were consuming. He also got to know what we liked to drink.
Ummm.... I was rather liking the Chinese beer.
Don't tell mom.
I'm getting exhausted just thinking about this day. Right after lunch we were on our way to the Temple of Heaven where the Emperor prayed for his people.
Here's the Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests! Darn it! I forgot what the symbolism of those three tiers are surrounding the hall.
And here's the inside of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The Emperor had to fast for three days before coming here to pray for a good agricultural season.
Back on the bus and on to the Summer Palace next to Kunming Lake which was a resort of the Empress Tzu Hsi. She had this lake excavated to farm fresh water pearls for jewelry and skin lotions.
The bottom photo is of Kunming Lake. There are 17 arches on the bridge because when the Emperor stands in the middle there are 9 arches on each side and 9 is the imperial number.
This was a wonderfully cool walkway with painted panels along the top. Each panel is of a different scene in the area.
I rather liked the wildflowers growing on the roofs.
Another huge meal as Charlie adjusted his understanding of what our food tastes were. This evening we were trying Shu Zhong Xian Beijing cuisine. Everything was scrumptious! We all wondered how much weight we'd be gaining on this trip. Then again with all the walking we were doing, we didn't feel all that bad about eating so much.
This was actually the first day of our touring and we were exhausted when we collapsed on our beds that night.
