Tour of Beijing

We had a great day touring today. We started off at the Great Wall. I think it was Junyong Pass it was the same section that Tim and I walked in 2010. It was really crowded today. This is a tough section. We made it to the first tower which is quite a hike. A couple of families made it to the forth tower. We only had an hour and a half to walk and were just happy to make it to the first tower. The other families did say that the climb to the other towers was much easier than getting to the first tower.
We then went to a jade store where we were able to watch artists carving beautiful art pieces. A funny thing happened while the guide was explaining the process of making a piece of jade art. We were at the last stage which is polishing and the guide was saying how the artist had to be careful while polishing the jade because they could break it. I swear as she was saying this the woman polishing the jade broke the head off the figure. The group started laughing and I felt so bad for her. Thankfully she was behind a glass window so it was probably easier to put her head down and ignore our group. This place also had a restaurant and we had a great lunch. Our guide ordered for everyone and we were able to share about seven different dishes. After lunch we were able to do some shopping. I bought a jade tiger for Christopher because he was born in the year of the tiger.
Our next stop was Tien An Min square. (Please forgive my spelling on places). We walked through and into the Forbidden City. We had a nice tour and were kicked out at the end as they wanted to close up. I got to see a few sections I hadn't before. We only walked through two of the six palaces and then went to some of the side buildings. Including we're Empress XiXi lived when she was a lowly concubine. She became friends with a servant of the Emperor. He helped her meet the Emperor. She became Empress because she was the only one to give him a son. She was known as the Dragon Lady. She controlled her son and so ran the country. We got to the end of the story and this was when they started to herd everyone out. We made our way through side roads and gardens on our way out.
It was a beautiful day for touring. This would have typically been the end of the day but someone asked about dinner and we all went out. The driver took us to a great restaurant that he likes. We had five different dishes including Peking Duck. It was really good and we paid about ten dollars a person.
Tomorrow we are meeting at 5:45am and going to the airport. We'll be in Guangzhou around lunch time. I can't wait for Monday. I am ready to get to Christopher now.
I am updating by email so I'll have to add pictures in batches. I'll make everything look nice once home

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