CHINA - day 2 Beijing

This morning, after a delicious breakfast that included milk for Laura (yea!), we started out in Tian'anmen Square. How cool was that? To actually be in Tian'anmen square was pretty crazy. Really, its just a huge huge open square with some big buildings around it and a statue in the middle. It was completely crowded, mostly with tour groups like ours. With the leaders carrying around the little flags and groups of 10-20 people following. And there were people trying to sell hats and gloves to stupid people like us who weren't prepared for the cold. Most of the hats had olympic embroidery on them since the olympics will be in Beijing next year. Actually, olympic stuff is everywhere in Beijing.

Anyways, here's Jim and a family picture in Tian'anmen square:

There's a huge picture of Mao on one of the buildings that is actually an oil painting that gets repainted every year by the same family. It weighs 1 ton. Its kind of hard to tell in this picture how big it is, but I Jim's work computer doesn't have the right software to crop it and zoom in. Believe me, it is big.

Next, we went through the tunnel under the big painting of Mao and into the Forbidden City. This was a city that commoners couldn't go into, only high ranking officials and the emperor. It was huge, with tons of small buildings that all look alike. Laura and I's favorite part were the big cauldrons that were everywhere. They used to hold water to use for putting out fires since they used to use candles everywhere and the buildings were made of wood.

The toilets on this trip were a big deal. Always an exciting event to find one that actually had a seat, but you learn to use the "holes in the ground" quickly. So glad Laura's still in diapers so we didn't have to worry about getting her to a bathroom all the time! Thought this sign was funny:

After the Forbidden City, we went to lunch, I think. Then to the zoo to see the Giant Panda exhibit. I hate to say it, but it seems like the pandas in San Diego, are happier than the ones in China! In China, they were pacing back and forth in front of their doors to the inside and didn't have much interest in anything in their habitats. In San Diego, they were always up in the trees sleeping or eating and just seemed very comfortable and secure. Oh well, maybe its just the cold weather in China. Although, since that's their natural habitat, shouldn't they be comfortable in the cold? Anyway, Laura enjoyed it.

Jim and I enjoy funny signs:

Then we headed to the Summer Palace. Its a palace on a lake where emperors would spend a few months in the summer. Very pretty, but it looked a lot like the rest of the palaces and Laura was getting bored.

Ahhh...the sweet potato. Without a doubt - my favorite food on this trip. Outside the Summer Palace, there were sidewalk vendors selling baked sweet potatoes. It was delicious. Laura devored it too! I was a little bitter about sharing it with her...ha ha. but there really wasn't much at the meals that Laura enjoyed, so I was excited to see her eat something besides the crackers we brought for her as snacks. I wish we would have run into more of these vendors, but most of the places our tour took us were too upscale to have something like this. But we thoroughly enjoyed it this time.

Dinner was a western buffet. I think that just meant they had a salad with Thousand Island dressing. Nothing else too western about it, but it was good.

Here's another shot of the Mao painting in Tian'anmen Square when we passed it on the way home. Very big.