Beijing: Day 7

With an early wake up call and the weirdest boxed breakfast I've ever seen, we headed to the airport again to get to Beijing. 

In the airport and all during the trip, we saw a ton of these bad translations in the english. This was one my favorites - Article Chicken overlord = chicken fries 

Once we landed, we met up with our guide Tracy. She first took us to the Temple of Heaven. Apparently, people love to hang out there and play games and sing, so we got to experience the true Chinese culture. 

One of the most famous things on the grounds besides the temple, is this tree. Basically two trees grew together and wrapped around each other for the past 200 years. It's kind of awesome! I wore an old Old Navy dress, old GAP cardigan and some trusty white sneakers from Walmart. I love them because  you can throw them away and buy a new pair for like $6. 

The temple had the most gorgeous paint! 

A closer view. 

This building was built with no nails and to be anti earthquake. 

After the temple, we headed to Tiananmen Square. 

There was a heavy police presence there but no guns which was interesting. 

It started pouring as we got there so these pictures are kinda dark - sorry!

We headed into the Forbidden City - which opened sometime during the 1900s to the public!

The columns were covered in gold - there was so much opulence in there that the pictures do not do it justice.

Fun engineering fact: They kept these water vats next to all the buildings because of the wood but there would not be enough water to stop a small fire if it broke out at the palace. The water was heated in the winter to make sure they had it!

This was the emperor's study - I loved this space because it seems peaceful and secluded for thinking. 

The gardens of the palace were spectacular - I love the special Chinese stone and the plants growing over it.

The little house on the hill was where the emperor would go with his concubine for some alone time for weeks at a time after war.

There is a moat surrounding the whole Forbidden City and mountains in the back to make sure the invaders did not want to come.

After this, we went to dinner and saw a Kung Fu show. 

It was pretty awesome and the kids had some crazy moves!