Oct. 9 Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace

    Our bus drops us off down the street from the Square.  On the sidewalk Annie asks us if we would guess what the metal grates are.  Someone says "toilets?"  Yes, she says.  When there are large events, curtains are placed around them.

Annie told us the locals don't come here except for special events and we'd see mostly tourists.  And lots of hawkers!  Postcards, books, etc.  The group had its picture taken and we bought a nice book about Beijing that it fits into. 

This is part of a floral display all along one side of the square, made in honor of a national holiday.  Annie told us usually they are much more elaborate, but because of natural disasters in China this year, some expenses have been cut back.  There were 2 standing rainbows and the whole length was shaped like a rainbow with row after row of flowers.

    Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world.  It is has been the site of several important events in Chinese history and the world knows about it because of the student riots in 1989.  The Heavenly Gate separates the square from the Forbidden City, the former Imperial Palaces.  Entry to the Palaces    was forbidden to commoners and was where the emperors, their wives, children and concubines lived.  There are several buildings.  Today about 80,000 visitors arrive here daily.  She said they respect their elders and never let elders over 65 travel alone.

    There are 15 layers of bricks on the ground so no one could tunnel underneath to enter the Palace to kill the emperor.  There were no trees so no one could climb one to get in.  Feng shui is very important to the Chinese and buildings were situated in certain ways, etc.  One building burned down 3 times.  Annie said 500 years ago the pillows there were made from jade and ivory.  Sometimes they dried tea leaves or used green beans in the pillows.  Since the Chinese don't eat much meat or drink milk they sleep on hard beds so their bones don't form incorrectly.
    Annie told us Beijing is famous for freshwater pearls, jade and cloissone.  Today we went to a pearl "factory".  We watched pearls being taken from the oysters, were told about the various colors of pearls and then taken to the gigantic showroom to shop.  We were kept there longer than most of us wanted to be. 
    On the bus Annie told us fresh water crabs about the size of a dollar pancake costs $40-50 American dollars.  We saw American magazines on the racks of street vendors.  Our lunch was very tasty and had a big variety.  Beijing has 30 government parks.  It costs $5-10 to enter or people can purchase an annual pass for $50 and use it every day.  Seniors over 70 aren't charged.
    We decide it is 12:15 a.m. at home, though it is 3:15 here and we have trouble staying awake as we are driven to the Summer Palace.  Let alone the fact that we've been on the go for 9 hours already today.  We drive for an hour to the sound of constant honking of horns.  We passed thousands of condo units.
    Summer Palace of the Emperors - the garden and lake were man-made in 1750.  The palace was burned down 3 times by European countries.  The Emperor's family always lived here from April to October.  We rode a dragon boat to the other side of the lake. 

    There was one lady emperor who everyone called The Dragon Lady because she was so mean and she wasted so much money.  One example was the marble boat she had built for troops to train on.  Ha!  Of course it wouldn't float.  The top is made from wood and painted to look like marble.  After that expenditure there was no money left to buy weapons.

     There were pretty gates and Annie told us that gates similar to these used to be on most street corners.  We weren't pleased to see this Obama t-shirt on a rack of tourist souvenirs.  Enlarge the picture so you can read the caption.

    We arrived back at the hotel and were asked to dress up and be in the lobby in 40 minutes to be driven to our welcome dinner at the Peking Duck Restaurant.  We weren't real excited about this since Tom had been to a similar dinner in 1972 and the duck soup tureen held everything but the quack.  The meal wasn't very tasty, especially the greasy duck and duck soup.  The cooks learn to cut 108 bite sized pieces from each duck.
   They put the meat between a thin pancake that is flavorless, add a piece of onion and some plum sauce and fold it like a taco.  I ate mostly vegetables and Tom hardly ate anything.  Local beer is free with each meal, but you have to pay for a bottle of water.
    We are really tired!  It was 8:30 when we returned to the hotel.  This was the most strenuous day we'll have, Annie says.  Too bad it is right after everyone arrives after their long days before and during the flight. Coming back from the restaurant in the dark we were astounded at the number of bikes, mopeds and rickshaws driving along the streets, through the intersections, etc.  None of them had any lights!  We saw this same thing in every city.