What a breathtaking day we've had! We first went to Tiananmen Sq. and the Forbidden City. The scale of the square is vast --- the world's largest palace front yard. There were many people there from all over China and the world. The former seemed to take a lot of interest in us. The Forbidden City, the imperial palace, was very beautiful. Its exquisite exterior trim is being cleaned in preparation for the Olympics.

Li Feng told us that 14 new subway lines are being constructed in Beijing for the Games as well, to supplement the existing two lines. We had a lot of walking, which was great after our day in the plane. We next took a pedicab ride around a hutong, one of the traditional neighborhoods with narrow lanes and houses built around courtyards.



Our favorite stop on that ride was a hutong kindergarten where we got to take photos of classrooms and students to show Mia in the future. We also visited the home of a retired couple who supplements their pension by allowing tourists to see the hutong life up close. After the hutong tour, other stops included a tour of a silk factory where we got to see the worms up close and personal, and a walk around the aptly named Temple of Heaven. Seniors are really active here. There is a group that does nightly fan dancing across the street from our hotel, and in the Temple of Heaven park there were many, many seniors playing cards and making music with traditional instruments.

Li Fang tells us to wear comfortable shoes tomorrow as we are hitting the Great Wall, Summer Palace, and other sites.