Beijing - Day 2 - The Adventures Continue.......

(written on Tuesday night) And here we go - a full day in Beijing under our belt (or, our shoes, actually, LOL!) -

Had a fabulous breakfast at the hotel and then we were off for a great day of sight-seeing. Weather was absolutely perfect (by my standards, anyway) - sunny, about 21 degrees celsius (roughly 70 degrees F. ), no humidity - couldn't ask for better than that.

It's so interesting to visit the places where so much history has taken place (is that an oxymoron?) - first stop - Tiananmen Square - holy smokes, Batman - the number of people there - Wow!!!! The pictures show it all. (be sure to click below and see ALL the pictures I post, too, ok?) -

We then spent a fair bit of time visiting the Forbidden City - be sure to click on the different tabs on this site because all of the historical information is available to you, right here - that's why I don't go into a lot of detail about that in my notes. I'm sure we spent 2 hours there - some of my photos depict the inner court where the concubines lived -

where the Emperor slept, the guest room, etc. Very interesting! As we were wandering around the Forbidden City (we're a very friendly group!), we had an amazing experience. Brenda, our Tour Director, was standing next to a young man who seemed to be Canadian. She started chatting with him and, lo and behold, turns out he is from Peterborough, ON (her home town!) and is studying in Boston - here on a school assignment for a few weeks. Small world! Brenda got the Jameson's, from my group - who are also from Peterborough - and they all had a really nice visit with this young man, Cameron Jacox (see photo below). Just a few degrees of separation - even over here in China.

(continued on Wednesday morning - had difficulties getting into/staying in Travel Blog last night - sorry for the delay, folks!)

Then, off to lunch and it was a fabulous, authentic Chinese meal which I loved - the menu is in a photo below. This was a great time to relax and get to know each other even a little better.

Then, on to a silk factory - now, that was an eye-opener. I had

NO idea how silk was made - what an education. Then, we got to tour the factory, make some purchases - from comforters, to pillows to a huge variety of clothing. Beautiful. There was 'red' everywhere - my favorite, as many of you know. (No, I didn't buy anything, though.......) From there, it was time for a quick visit to the Temple of Heaven (don't you just love that name!!????) - and then back to the hotel for a buffet dinner - YUM!!!!

All in all, a very full and great day. Will share more tonight, once we've returned from the Great Wall and the panda viewing.......wait for it :)

Thanks for being with us. (Good night, Mom - I love you!)

Happy Pat