Day 2 in Beijing- Touring the city!:
After a solid night of sleep we had a good breakfast buffet at the hotel and met another couple from Kansas that are adopting a 11 month old girl. Teanne and Jim also used the FTIA agency and joined us on our tours of Beijing sites. Tiananmen Square is a large open plaza that is surrounded by the Great Hall, other monuments to the Chinese revolution. The Square is just south of the Forbidden City. A large photo of former Chairman Mao greeted us as we entered the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was built from the 1410's and finished in 1422. The buildings initially contained a total of 9,999 rooms. Nine is a very significant and important number and considered a lucky number. All the roofs of the buildings are made of wood and no nails were used for the construction of the roofs. Details of the construction and the intricate colors were amazing. The fact that many of the original buildings built more than almost 600 years ago are still standing was incredible. The site was busy with tourists and the day was hot and muggy probably in the mid 80's. The city also had a garden with many trees and a 10 meter man-made rock that was impressive. Many photos were taken and the video camera was running!
We drove to the site of the 2008 summer Olympics and took photos of the Birds Nest (location of the opening and closing ceremonies) and the Ice Cube (where Michael Phelps broke the record with eight gold medals). We did not get to go inside either facility.
The final part of the day was a Chinese acrobatic show that was a lot of fun and quite amazing. The show included an incredibly flexible lady, lion dancer, two young men performing feats of strength and balance, lady performing balancing acts on a tall stack of chairs and six motorcyclists inside a giant round steel cage. The show was entertaining and a great end to a great day in Beijing.
Andrew had a good time and did really well considering the large amount of walking we did. He snuggled into bed immediately after we returned to our hotel room - we weren't far behind. Today we tour the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. Overall the weather has been very warm and sticky but no rain at least during the day. We are getting very excited for the our big day on Monday! Thanks for everyone's continued thoughts and prayers and look forward to sharing our incredible travels with you! Go USA vs. Algeria- have not watched much TV but did read a Chinese newspaper in English on Friday.
-Paul
Note:will post pictures soon.
