Day 3

Today we went to Tiananmen square.


And the Forbidden City.


This is Lisa in front of a single piece of stone that took 14 years to carve, and then another 6 years to transport to the Forbidden City. It's carved with the 9 dragon sons of the Dragon God.


This building is one of the gateways into the Forbidden City.




After we rode in a bicycle rickshaw, which took us on our Hutong tour.




This is the city's historic district. Four families used to share little courtyards, each with a tiny house inside.



This is the door to the courtyard we visited. Inside is a quadrangle, divided between the families. They share the same water and utilities. The doors signified a family's status. The Emperor's family was once the only one allowed to use the colors red and gold, but now the almost entire historic district uses the color red.



This man owned one of the houses inside. He's a painter, and we bought a painting from him.


Jerry, our guide in Beijing. He's fantastic.


This is Tom and Bill, our guide from the agency, at our dinner. Bill will go with us to Harbin and then back to Beijing, when we complete all the paperwork. We ate at a traditional northern restaurant, where we all used individual "Hot Pots." We cooked raw beef, lamb and "fish balls" in the pot, then dipped them in different sauces. It was absolutely delicious. We both used chopsticks, and had such a hard time that the restaurant finally brought us spoons, but we were adamant! And stuck to the chopsticks.


Tomorrow morning we leave for Harbin!