Beijing 10/09/09

We had a busy day today. (Friday) Our tour guide is good, but he moves you through a lot of places in a small amount of time! We started the day at the Ming Tombs. This is where the emperors were buried. It is on the north side of Beijing, near the mountains. There are 16 tomb sites. They are pretty elaborate, with many buildings and gardens each. On each site there is an underground palace where they were laid to rest. They actually thought this was paradise and people were not allowed to go back there. Above this palace was the tower of souls. This was a huge tower built to protect the emperor and his wife's souls.

Near the Emperor's tomb is a path called the Sacred Way. This is a walkway that connects all 16 tombs. it is lined with stone statues, and these statues are said to gaurd the tomb. After this we went to a Jade factory. we got to see them carve jade into sculptures. We learned that jade comes in many colors. It was very pretty!

Then we had lunch at a beautiful hotel restaurant. While we were eating they had live entertainment. The food was good and it was alot of fun. Jordan and I have tried some of the food. We like the chicken dishes and the rice the best. Last night we went to a duck restaurant. Apparently Beijing is famous for its duck. Jordan and I did not care for it. They cook the whole duck and bring it all out, even the head. Our waiter had Jonathan try the head. He did not care for it, Jordan and I were laughing the whole time. They brought out a huge amount of food and we felt bad that we did not want to eat it, so we were trying to get Jonathan to eat our part too!

After lunch, we went to the Great Wall. It was very impressive! I cannot imagine how hard and dangerous it must have been to build. Thousands of people were killed working on it. We climbed up a portion of it. The view was spectacular. Of course, Jordan complained the whole time, she doesn't like to hike! I left Jonathan and Jordan and went up a ways more. It was very steep and the steps were uneven. I was surprised at the number of older people going up the steps. This is one of my favorite things we have seen. It is hard to even find the words to describe how spectacular it is.
 

 

Next, we went to the Summer Palace. This is were the emperors went in the summer to get out of the city. There are many dwelling places there. Each child had their own house and the palace where the emperor stayed was there. There is a man made lake there that is just beautiful. We went o a boat ride across the lake. you could also rent paddle boats. There were several bridges around the lake. They were very pretty. They were made of stone and had beautiful carvings on them. Many Chinese people come here for recreation and exercise. It was very beautiful.

                                               

The last place we went was the Olympic Park. There were lots of people here as well. The Bird's nest stadium was very cool. We had a great day and were very tired when we got home. Hopefully we will get used to the time change soon!

 Love to all