After the Forbidden City, we went to the Imperial Gardens.
Here are some photos of the residence of the famous Empress Dowager also known as the "Dragon Lady." Basically, she killed everyone around her to maintain power.
We moved on to the Imperial Gardens. Apparently, may scenes from the film, "The Last Emperor" were filmed here. The boy King resided here, lost power, then had to pay admission to come in as his former home was made a museum.
The original stone path with amazing mosaic designs is still intact and all over the gardens. We were only in a small part of the gardens. The area is quite large.
Large stones are quite common in gardens in China. Many have written poems about the large rocks. The Emperors would ship them from all over China to be placed in their gardens.
This was a long morning and the kids were getting grouchy. I took this picture of two unhappy kids right before we got on the bus to head to lunch.
Caroline was in a better mood when we got to the restaurant. It was a long morning and very cold. The temperature was starting to rise a bit (still cold) and we were happy to go eat.
I should mention that trying to cross the street is a scary experience in Beijing. It is a completely different experience then living in Japan. You have to be very careful as there seem to be no rules of the road.
A few of us almost got clipped on the way to the restaurant.
The grounds outside the restaurant.
I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of the food! All food was served family style with this big rotating wheel in the middle. It was funny when you would wait for that one dish to come your way and all of a sudden the wheel would turn the other way and your dish was on the other side again!
The tour did a good job of making sure to get me vegetarian food. I do cheat but I try to stick with it as best I can.
Below are Patrick with Riley and Christian.
Outside the restaurant.
After lunch we went for rickshaw rides. I was going to pass because I have this before in Tokyo so it wasn't a big deal. Plus, I missed Bill.
The tour guides talked me into going and I am so glad they did!
I did not know that the drivers compete with each other. The kids easily got them to race so we had a great time!
Caroline and Christian against...
Patrick and Riley
Patrick and Riley get passed by Caroline and Christian. The driver is happy with himself.
Beautiful neighborhood along the way. This area is turning into a trendy bar area.
Photo stop.
The kids and I spotted the huge cotton candy, we had to try it. It was very light, very tasty, very large, and not sticky at all.
By the way, this is second spot we saw the mysterious man taking pictures of us. Seriously. There was someone everyday, all day that took pictures of all of us.
Patrick and Riley take off again.
I was sharing with the local tour guide. He explained that the government sets up these exercise machine all over for the people. We did see them all over China. There were many retired people working out everyday.
We went to the Silk factory next to learn how silk is made. AKA, sales pitch. Ho Hum. The lady below is showing us how they use that wisk thing to find the beginning of the silk worm cocoon.
Boring. I am not much of a shopper. It was okay, then it quickly goes to why you should buy. I found a chair and hot tea.
OK, now I have to tell you about Wangfujing Walking Street. Also known as "snack street." Everything you could thing of is here...on a stick.
These are all over Beijing. They are tart apples covered in brown sugar. I did not try these. I went for the huge cotton candy earlier that day. I forgot to try these.
Squid...
Scorpions, seahorses, beetles...
No idea...
These guys were still moving!!
Centipedes, locus and meal worms...
Crickets...
Patrick and Riley choose the scorpions!!
Riley's turn
No explanation needed here...
Yuck!
But they could have chosen this one... Everyone who knows me, knows I HATE spiders. Someone touched me while I was taking this picture (it is virtually impossible not to touch me given how crowded and narrow the streets are) and I screamed. Funny.
I am creeped out just looking at these pictures. Some scorpions were still moving, so gross and icky.
When we were waiting for the bus to (finally) head back to the hotel, some girls wanted a picture with Caroline and Riley. We were told before we came that this would happen but we had no idea how often. More on that later. I love this picture. Girls that are smiling and giggling are just cute no matter where you are.
The end of a long, exciting day!!
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