Adam: After getting a decent night of sleep (well, at least I did) we went out looking for breakfast.
Valerie: We stopped at a hole in the wall a few blocks from our hotel. Adam had fried dough; I had steamed dumplings and buns for breakfast. This is not a cereal eating city.
(Adam at Breakfast)Valerie: We started our walking tour at the Heavenly Gate (home to Mao's portrait). The gate is one of many that lead into the Forbidden City -- home to many Chinese Emperors.
Adam: This is also the gate across from Tiananmen square - "Tiananmen" means "Heavenly Gate."
(Valerie in front of the Heavenly Gate.)
Adam: This is also the gate across from Tiananmen square - "Tiananmen" means "Heavenly Gate."
(Valerie in front of the Heavenly Gate.)Valerie: Across the street is the actual square -- the largest public square in the world. On one side of the square is the China National Museum and on the other is the Great Hall of the People (home to the Chinese legislature). In the middle is Mao's Mausoleum and in front of it is the Heroes' Monument.
(Mao's Mausoleum and the Heroes' Monument)Adam: Afterwards, we climbed up another gate - Zhengyang Men, also known as the "Front Gate." This is one of the other gates leading into Tiananmen square, and inside, is basically a giant tourist shop.
(Adam and Valerie at Zhengyang Men)
Valerie: The walking tour then proceeded to the Foreign Legation Quarter. This is where many of the foreign delegations were located in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Adam: At this point, we were pretty tired. So we walked up to one of Beijing's main shopping areas and found a restaurant called Goubuli - it specializes in steamed buns, or baozi in Chinese. We ordered some very tasty sucai bazoi - vegetarian buns.
(The buns)
Valerie: After lunch we headed to the Forbidden City. The City itself is much larger than I expected.
Adam: It is surrounded by a moat, which we walked along for a while, until we found the entrance.
(The moat -- it kept the commoners out.)
Valerie: Some of the buildings have artifacts and exhibitions from the various Chinese dynasties.
(Us at the entrance to the Palace Museum -- the museum inside the Forbidden City.)
Adam: But the most amazing thing about the city is its overwhelmingly large size and ornate decoration. Almost every building has gargoyles, and they're all connected by a series of marble balustrades.
(One of the many pagodas inside the Forbidden City.)
Valerie: At one end of the Forbidden City was a nice outdoor garden. The garden was peaceful and a nice place to relax after so much walking.
Up Next: More of Beijing - the Lama Temple, Behai Park, etc.
(Adam and Valerie at Zhengyang Men)Valerie: The walking tour then proceeded to the Foreign Legation Quarter. This is where many of the foreign delegations were located in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Adam: At this point, we were pretty tired. So we walked up to one of Beijing's main shopping areas and found a restaurant called Goubuli - it specializes in steamed buns, or baozi in Chinese. We ordered some very tasty sucai bazoi - vegetarian buns.
(The buns)Valerie: After lunch we headed to the Forbidden City. The City itself is much larger than I expected.
Adam: It is surrounded by a moat, which we walked along for a while, until we found the entrance.
(The moat -- it kept the commoners out.)Valerie: Some of the buildings have artifacts and exhibitions from the various Chinese dynasties.
(Us at the entrance to the Palace Museum -- the museum inside the Forbidden City.)Adam: But the most amazing thing about the city is its overwhelmingly large size and ornate decoration. Almost every building has gargoyles, and they're all connected by a series of marble balustrades.
(One of the many pagodas inside the Forbidden City.)Valerie: At one end of the Forbidden City was a nice outdoor garden. The garden was peaceful and a nice place to relax after so much walking.
Up Next: More of Beijing - the Lama Temple, Behai Park, etc.
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