Beijing

October 11-14, 2015


click picture for enlarged view 		Imperial Palace

My first reaction was, "Oh, I've seen this place before." At first, I thought maybe I was a Chinese emperor in a previous life. Then I remembered... It was in Mulan, the Disney animation about a Chinese girl who joins the army. Well, maybe next life I'll be an emperor.





click picture for enlarged view 		Melissa Listens

Fascinated with all the stories of emperors and their concubines, Melissa was entranced, or tired.





click picture for enlarged view 		Star-Rated Toilet

This is the first (and only) four-star toilet I saw in Beijing. Didn't actually go in, though, so can't compare it with our other toilets.





click picture for enlarged view 		Empty Bench

So rare that I immediately took this picture, a bench stood empty long enough to take this shot. I'll have to look up how many people visit the Forbidden City per year, but I would guess in the tens of millions, maybe even a hundred million?





click picture for enlarged view 		Pottery Work

All of these decorations, as well as the roof tiles, are ceramic.





click picture for enlarged view 		Ceramic Door Decoration





click picture for enlarged view 		Peaceful Imperial Park

If you want to find peace in Beijing, you'll have to find it with a few hundred other people around.





click picture for enlarged view 		Map of Beijing

Never lost, just temporarily disoriented, one of our tour members helped our guide find the location of our next restaurant in Beijing.





click picture for enlarged view 		Thirteenth Floor

Seeing as how 13 is my lucky number, I felt safe having our hotel room on the 13th floor... until I found these gas masks on a shelf in the closet.





click picture for enlarged view 		Modern Development

Our hotel is in this cluster of modern glass-sided skyscrapers. There was also a movie theater, a Subway sandwich store, and a H�agen-Dazs ice cream store.





click picture for enlarged view 		Walk in the Park

With a little free time, Melissa napped and I took a walk to the subway station, which never accepted my yuan notes. So I walked around the neighborhood of the hotel, finding this park along the way, strangely empty.




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