The+Great+Wall

= Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall  =

This morning we took the city tour and we were quickly into areas of housing, small shops, and traditional architecture.


 * Tiananmen Square ** is a large [|city square] in the center of [|Beijing], [|China] , named after the [|Tiananmen] Gate ( // Gate of Heavenly Peace // ) located to its North, separating it from the [|Forbidden City] . Tiananmen Square is the third [|largest city square] in the world (440,000 m² - 880m by 500m or 109 [|acres] - 960 by 550 yd). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several [|important events] in Chinese history. Outside China, the square is best known in recent memory as the focal point of the [|Tiananmen Square protests of 1989] , a pro-democracy movement which ended on 4 June 1989 with the declaration of martial law in Beijing by the government and the death of several hundred civilians (from Wikipedia).

 Above - Kristen enters the Square.  Above is the street that the tanks rolled down. Below is Tianamen Gate Building. To the right is a Tianamen Gate Building guard.



What follows are random notes written on my phone as we toured the city.

We passed the drum tower (picture is through dirty bus window.) Traditionally and even today, the bell is rung in the morning and the drum is beat in the evening.

We passed a 7-11 right next to old traditional housing. It is very sunny and we all applied sunscreen.

We passed many small groups of people doing Tai Chi for morning exercise - even some in skirts and heels.

Traffic is crazy. Cars, buses, bicycles, pedestrians - all move through the streets. Pedestrians do not have right of way but they seem to get out of the way.

Famous old Bejing Hotel.



The area is very green with trees and boulevards. This is a big difference from US cities, which are mostly concrete.

The Forbidden City is very big. There are four levels to the city - outer, inner, imperial, and forbidden. Tourists walk one way through the city levels and come out on the other side in the imperial garden.





The Imperial Garden in the Forbidden City includes the 4 elements of traditional Chinese gardens - old tree, old stone, water, and flower.

We had to do a little shopping at the Palace Museum Store - in honor of my niece, Hannah, who loves museum stores! In addition, I found Lays potato chips and a coke light.

After the morning, we headed off to the Great Wall and stopped for lunch.

There are more than seven points for stopping on the Great Wall and we choose Badaling. There were two options - the south route was "easier but more crowded.". The north route was "steeper but less crowded.". We choose the north route. We could go to 1, 2, or 3 towers. I made it to the second tower. The third tower was very steep and high, so I decided to stop at tower 2. Most folks went on to the third tower. I actually was more concerned with coming down the steep slope.

I was able to see a beautiful view of the mountains and others climbing the wall. It was awesome. Above is Kristen going on without me.





We also did some shopping and got caught in a Beijing rain storm. It was actually chilly up there!