Beijing Tour Day 2

Today started out fun as we received our "Red Book" which has information we need to know about our schedule and adoption as well as several new photos of Charlie.  Can't wait to kiss those sweet cheeks in just a few days!!

We then visited Tiananmen square and the Forbidden City with our group, both major icons and very important to China's history.

Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen gate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the fourth largest city square in the world.  It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.  While it has great significance in China, it was not our most exciting stop of the trip so far.  It was very crowded and, unlike the Great Wall yesterday, Westerners are definitely in the minority.  We had several people stop us to ask if they could take their photo with us.  Very interesting.

Tiananmen square then leads us to the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. It is located in the center of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.  It was amazing.  I can't even describe how large this place is. The architecture is impressive and very indicative to what you might imagine a Chinese Palace would look like.  The palace is now completely empty and open to tourists.  It was actually really hot out and I'm pretty sure I have a nice sunburn from today.

After this, we had lunch and visited a silk factory.  It was so interesting to learn about how silk is made and see some of the beautiful things they make there.  We returned to the hotel and took a little nap and then headed down for dinner at the restaurant hotel.  We're still pretty exhausted and it's difficult to get solid sleep but hopefully we'll catch up soon.  Tomorrow we leave for a morning flight to Nanjing where Charlie is.  Looking forward to getting there!!

Specific prayer request:  please pray for a good night sleep tonight and safe flight in the morning to Nanjing!

Our Red Book!