Beijing tours

today we toured several locations in Beijing with Michele, our native tour guide, and Russle and Julie, another couple adopting a little girl. Russel and Julie are from Utah and have four biological children (3 boys and one girl). they decided to adopt a girl so their 11yo daughter would have a baby sister. their daughter actually lives just outside of Beijing, but they have to wait until Monday to go get her and have to travel to the city of her finding place (about a 1 hour flight). gotta love rules huh?

anyway, we toured T Square first (don't want to flag the censor) and then went into the Forbidden City. pretty cool place considering the buildings there are older than the US itself. most are about 500 years old. it was VERY crowded. some of the Chinese people from outside of the cities were very interested to see Amy. One gentleman asked Amy to stop and take a picture with his son. very cute if not a bit weird.

the attached picture is from the garden at the Forbidden City. the tree we are sitting under is call the Couples Tree. as you might be able to see, the branches are slighty intertwined. it is consider good luck for couples to take their picture under it. needless to say, it was quite a fight to get our turn under it for a picture.

after the city we toured the oldest part of Beijing and got to see how some local families live. very small but lovely living quarters.

we toured a silk factory and saw how they make various silk items from beginning to end. it really wasn't the factory we toured, but more like a display set up for tourists to buy stuff. it was pricey there and we are pretty sure we can get stuff cheaper elsewhere.

finally, we went to see a Chinese acrobatic show. the performers were mostly teenagers and very skilled at techniques of balance and jumping. it was very impressive to see.

tomorrow, the Great Wall and the Olympic village.