Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, and the hutongs

I'm apologizing in advance for the barrage of photos.  I really did try to cut down the number I wanted to share...it was kinda hard though. lol  Kuddos to you if you hang in there to the end of this post.

Anyway, yesterday started early for us.  We met our wonderful guide Grace in the hotel lobby at 8:30am and headed toward a very popular and crowded tourist spot- Tian'anmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the hutongs.

It's always amazing how many people can fit in the square yet barely make it look busy.  Right away the Howard boys were followed and photographed.  My two dumplings patiently waited during all the photo sessions.

 After pushing our way through the crowds at the entrance into the Forbidden City, also known as the Imperial Palace, we eventually made our way to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.  This is where the emperor's throne was located.  Our guide Grace told us that just last month they finished repainting the exterior beams.  So thankfully our photos don't include any scaffolding.  Getting to see the throne was like fighting your way onto the subway. So we really didn't get a great view.  Thankfully, though, the lion statues were out front.  Caleb and Madeline love looking for them everywhere.

 We took lots of breaks because it truly was a lot of walking.  Our two dumplings get along so well with all the Howard boys.  It's so awesome to see them hanging out together.

 Our whole walk through the city, our group was constantly stopped to take photos.  We met some nice people from Tibet.

 A lot of the people were taken with Nate because he's the youngest Howard boy.  This guy asked lots of questions. Another man gave all the kids yuan (Chinese money.)

 You can see in the photo below how faded the painting is on some parts of the buildings.

 We are constantly eating snacks throughout the day as we tour.  Gummy worms are always a hit with the three youngest.

 Here is our beautiful and wonderful guide Grace.  She's so sweet and generous with the kids.

 We walked over to the west side of the city and checked out how the concubines lived.

 We eventually made it all the way to the northern part of the city where the Imperial Gardens are located.

 We stopped to potty and eat some snacks.  If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the lady inside the snack shop watching the kids.  Pretty standard.

 After exiting the city at the north, it was time to take a rickshaw ride through the hutongs.  We also did this 5 years ago before we adopted Caleb.  However, I have to tell you that this tour was much better.  We saw so much more.  Our guide wore the neon green top on the far left of this photo.

 The shot above is probably one of my favorite shots of the day (and I took a ton.)  It truly embodies China in the present.  Striving to be modern, westernized, embracing captialism as seen by the beautiful young woman in her modern dress and umbrella..completely surrounded by ancient China as reflected in the hutongs.  Such a dichotomy.  And then, there was the graffiti and modern cars.

 As I said earlier, this tour was much longer than the one we took 5 years ago.  We passed the lake in the north and went through the 100 bars north lake district.  The bars had very foreign names, again mixed with traditional Chinese.

 There was so much dust as we rode along in the rickshaw that it became a bit hard to breath.  Bathrooms are few and far between.  So mamas and babas do what they have to do for their little ones. This is a very common scene around town.

 Our guide Grace wanted to take us over to the Bird's Nest and Water Cube for a photo op.  So we pulled off the highway and climbed up the side of an overpass.  It was too hard to see the Water Cube because of some trees, but we could clearly see the Bird's Nest.

 As we were making our way back down, a man selling kites tried to get us to buy some.

 And this last photo sums up how the Howard boys feel about the dumplings.  Biggest boy Chase is always looking out for Caleb.  It just melts my heart.

Well, today is a travel day for us.  We will be taking a high speed train to Taiyuan.  Caleb is disappointed it's not a bullet train.  I'm sad for him.  I wish it was too, but Taiyuan is just too close to Beijing.  We will arrive late this afternoon and will settle into our hotel.  First on the list is laundry.  We have packed an entire suitcase full of dirty, smelly clothes....one whole suitcase!  It's hard to believe this time tomorrow we will have laid eyes on our precious Havi, and she will be in our arms.  Please pray for her transition and also for her foster family.  I can't imagine the pain and loss they are also experiencing right now.  Thanks!

But before I end this post, I have to wish the best Baba in the entire world a very Happy Father's Day. This year is your last Father's Day with just two dumplings to hold.  You have a very special, belated Father's Day gift waiting for you in Taiyuan!

The Great Wall: Mutianyu

So we headed out this morning to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall.  And if I could sum up today with one word, it would be AWESOME.  We met up with our guide Grace and the Howard family from Texas.  Caleb hit it off right away with their youngest son, Nate, who is 7 1/2 years old.  All four boys were pretty great, if you ask me.  So were Jenna and Mark, as the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  

We had a great time chatting on the drive out to Mutianyu.  This section of the Great Wall is known for having a cable car ride up and a toboggan slide going down.  It did not disappoint!  In fact, when we reached the bottom, Madeline asked if she could go again, as if it were a ride at Disney. lol  Sorry honey.  I wish it was that easy.  Having been to the Badaling section of the wall 5 years ago, we can easily say that this section was far better.  Not only was it not crowded (perhaps due to the longer drive from the city center), but there were far less vendors selling their stuff along the wall.  AND the toboggan was such a huge hit!  This is definitely the section of the Great Wall to see, if you're planning a future trip.  

Anyway, we also had the chance to stop by a cloisonne factory on the drive back to the hotel.  Patrick has been asking to "go back" ever since we went to one 5 1/2 years ago.  Needless to say, he enjoyed shopping.  lol We picked up a few small pieces for the kids before heading back.

Today's photos are pretty self explanatory, except at the very end.

Enjoy!

 No, you're not seeing things.  I took this shot straight on. The steps really were that slanted.  And no, we didn't climb them. lol

In these last two shots at the cloisonne factory, you can see how the copper is applied to the pieces and the pigment is added.