How much fun can you cram into one day in Beijing? Apparently quite a lot.
We started out the morning at Tianenmen Square (forgive my spelling...I am too tired to look things up tonight), and then walked over to the Forbidden City. For those of you who have made the trek, you know one of the most prominent sights is the large portrait of Mao hanging on the wall. And of course this sparked questions in my very verbal boys, who wanted to know who Mao was, and if he was kind of like the Abraham Lincoln of China. I will let your imagination fill in the rest of the blanks of that conversation.
I love the Forbidden City. I have been fascinated with it ever since I was a child. I can't explain it. It just is. And thankfully what it also is, is less crowded than it was in October 2008. From there we hopped on our bus and went to a Cloisonne factory, where we had lunch a lesson on Cloisonne. (If you don't know what it is, you are just going to have to look it up. It is beautiful, but I am too tired to explain things.)
After lunch we headed to the Great Wall. My kids have talked about the Great Wall for years. They love it. Last time they were so proud of how far they climbed (see October 2008), but this time they went even further. Ben, Will, Kate, Tim, and Jacob went to the tallest tower (maybe 5 towers up, at our location), while I went up past the first tower and thought to myself, "Hey, I have already done this. Why am I killing myself when I can barely breathe I am so out of shape?!" I am super-motivated like that.
I have a video of Kate at the top, quoting her brother Will from his first Great Wall climb, which may or may not make it on here. My tech skills are no match for governmental site blocks.
[This is where the video of Kate should be, but I can't get it to work.]
Last, but not least, we drove past the Olympic Village for a quick look at the Cube and Bird's Nest - way better than walking the area.
The weather is nothing short of gorgeous.
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