On Saturday morning, we walked down to the Forbidden City from our hotel. On the way, a Chinese gentleman suggested that we take a different route that would go through a garden on the East entrance. We took his advice and went through a beautiful garden with winding walkways, small bridges, charming pagodas and a small lake or pond that stretched the entire length of the garden. With that prelude, we got our tickets and entered the Forbidden City, home of Chinese emperors for centuries. We made our way through the Forbidden City and the crowds, stopping to read the various descriptions of the history involved, admire the beautiful grounds and buildings, take pictures and, of course, in the case of the girls, pose for pictures. The Chinese visitors to the Forbidden City were friendly and often wanted to have their picture taken with the girls. However, after a while it became necessary to limit the picture taking so we could finish our tour. The entire morning was spent in the Forbidden City.
From there, we went to a late lunch. Holli thought that we just couldn't leave Beijing without having Peking Duck and she was right. The hotel directed us to a nearby restaurant that was known for its Peking Duck. The food was fantastic. In fact, both girls had several helpings of the Peking Duck (okay, everyone sit down for this one - Kendall actually tasted duck brain). When we left the restaurant, it took a little while to hail two cabs for our trip to the Temple of Heaven. Our experience with the Beijing cab drivers was completely different from our experiences in Shanghai. Surly and uncooperative probably describe most of the Beijing cab drivers that we encountered.
Our time at the Temple of Heaven was limited. We had to make it back to the hotel to eat dinner and go to the Chinese Acrobat show. Brian had a plan to go right to the Temple and work our way back to the gate so that we got to see the most important sites first. Of course, none of us heard the plan and every time we stopped on the way to the Temple at the far end of the site, Brian would hurry us along. We were starting to suspect that we were in the Chevy Chase movie, Vacation. Stop, smile, take a picture and move on. Eventually, Brian patiently explained the plan and we fell into step. The plan worked and we were able to spend enough time at the Temple of Heaven to appreciate its beauty.
After working hard to get cabs, again, we made it to the hotel for happy hour and dinner. Next stop the Chinese Acrobats. Fortunately, the hotel staff hailed us our cabs and directed the cab drivers, which saved us the unpleasant experience of dealing with them.
The show was great. The girls really loved it. One of their favorites parts was the approximately fourteen people riding on a single bicycle in pyramid formation. It was impressive and was a good end to the evening. Of course, our next challenge was to get back to the hotel. The first cab driver said "No" and pulled away. The next time, Brian opened the door, showed him the address and as the driver was saying "No", he shoved Roni into the front seat and threw the kids and Nana in the back seat. He left the driver with no option but to take us to the hotel. He took the same tactic with the next cab and threw in another passenger going to the same hotel for good measure. We were so proud of him.
It was a long day filled with a great deal of siteseeing and new experiences for everyone.
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