Second Day in China; Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

Uncle Mike falling asleep by the pool after the long day

Towards the end of our stay at the Forbidden City

Beautiful Scenary at the Imperial Garden

Our long, freezing walk back to the hotel

The beginning of our journey through the Forbidden City

After a short walk to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, we began our sight seeing adventure in China. The weather was a bit cold but spirits were high. We had a great time seeing the more than 600 year old city that housed emperors and concubines. Walking up and down the icey stairs was a bit scarey with Nanya and company, but we made the walk safely from the entrance to the exit. After we completed our journey through the forbidden city we encountered our first experience of Beijing taxi cab drivers. We were rejected from three or four rides before we decided to walk back to the hotel. The walk back to the hotel was a bit longer than anticipated. Upon our arrival to the hotel, we decided to go to lunch at a magnificant Chinese restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Curtis ordered our "questionable dishes"(speaking in Mandarin, we have been so completely impressed with his proficiency of the language! He is amazing!) and like the troupers we are, we ate. After eating we went to the market and shopped. Hours of bargaining left us without money and forced to head back to the hotel. Everyone was satisfied with their purchases and quite tired of the chaos. We decided to go to the club lounge for drinks and appetizers to settle everyone down. We headed back down to Pee Schree (Uncle Mike's Mandarin term for Hotel Floor P3) to finish off the evening pool side. We ate a little bit of dinner and the kids swam. Tomorrow we are going to see the Great Wall of China and maybe to one other sight. Everyone is having a great time!