Beijing, September 9-12

We spent the Mid-Autumn Festival weekend in Beijing.  The kids had Friday off from school for a professional development day, and Monday was a National Holiday in China. On Thursday night we flew up to Beijing after school to meet John who had been there for a few days of meetings...arriving in rain to what some said was the worst traffic they had ever seen in the city.  In fact, we spent 2 hours on the plane, and 2.5 hours in our car making our way to the hotel!  The reward though, was waking up to sunny, blue skies on Friday morning...a rarity in Beijing. We packed a lot into our 3 1/2 days...waking up early every day..here are some highlights.

Our first morning was spent exploring the South Gate area to the old inner city (Qian Men), followed by lunch in beautiful Behai Park with John once he wrapped up his work.

We did a little clothes shopping....

And finally, Madeline is showing me the respect that I have long deserved.

Saturday we toured the Imperial Summer Palace, located about 30 minutes outside the city.  Behind us is the Temple that was built for worship on the Empress Dowager's birthday. We were able to climb up to the top, where a huge Buddha sits.

A highlight of the weekend was, of course, seeing and walking on the Great Wall.  Sunday morning we left Beijing at about 7am to drive roughly 70km North of the city to a town called Mu Tian Yu.  From there, we took a lift up to the wall itself (other options are a gondola, donkey, horse or a good old fashioned hike) and then walked for a couple of miles, returning down to town via a toboggan ride.  That was pretty cool.  We arrived early and were lucky to beat the crowds.  Being on the Wall was definitely a life thrill for all of us. 

You'll never believe who we ran into on the Wall.  

Yes, that's right.  Girl Baby made the travel team. That girl really gets around. And there she was again when we got to the bottom of the toboggan to be greeted by some Mongol warriors.

Sunday afternoon we explored some of the old Hutongs in the city (typical old allyways that represent the old way of life in Beijing.

Monday was the day reserved for the Forbidden City - though we could have spent easily 2 days in there alone.  We had the slightly odd experience of being introduced by our guide to the nephew of the Last Emperor, who is a famous calligraphy artist and works in a private studio inside the Forbidden City, selling his works to pay for continuous renovations to the buildings and grounds. Not sure if that is really true, but it makes for a great story.  And we're all excited to see THE LAST EMPEROR now that we have a little more history under our belt.

You can get a feel for a more typical Beijing sky in the photo below.  Our sunny day on Friday was pretty unusual.

Beijng is crowded, dirty, chaotic...yet also incredibly awe inspiring.  Thought I'd leave you with two more images of the weekend.....