There are lots of pics today. This is our last full day in Beijing, and it was a lot of fun. We started out with a Tai Chi class. There are video cameras all over Beijing. We were joking that in exchange for visiting China, we had to provide a little entertainment to the Chinese authorities. If anybody watched the video, I’m sure they got a pretty good laugh.

 

 

 

 

From Tai Chi, we went to the Temple of Heaven. This is where the Emperor would go to pray for a good harvest, blah blah blah. I’m putting a picture of the building here. But what was much more interesting is that the Chinese have put the temple grounds to very good use. The temple grounds are actually larger than the Forbidden City, but there aren’t all that many buildings (even counting the gift shops). The rest of the area is grass, trees, and flowers. People come here to have a good time. Most of the people we saw were retired. It’s a combination outdoor park – senior center – exercise gym. I’m putting a bunch of pics from the park at the bottom of the blog.

Our next stop was a house in the Hutong. One of the families provides meals for tour groups. We had lunch in her house, discussed what it’s like to live in the Hutong, and got to ask tons of questions. The meal was a typical multi-course affair and the food was excellent. I won’t bore you with all the dishes we had, but I will mention that lunch included garlic sprouts. (Eat your heart out, Dani.)

 

 

 

After lunch, we all got a rickshaw ride around the Hutong. We got a close look at the houses and the general area. One could do a lot worse than live in the Hutong. It’s close to everything. The houses are often over 100 years old and are quite strong. There’s a strong sense of community.

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was the bell tower, just north of the Hutong. We visited a tea shop in the bottom of the bell tower, sampling 4 kinds of tea. The lady doing the sampling had a clever presentation and was quite accomplished at what she did. While most of the rest of the group purchased tea and tea cups, Danita and I went to the top of the bell tower. It was a nice view, including a birds-eye view of the Hutong.

 

 

 

We went back to the hotel about 4 to have dinner on our own. Danita and I didn’t want a lot to eat. We walked around the block and came across a bakery. We had a pizza bread, a veal bread, and a cupcake. It was quite good and was exactly what we wanted after having eaten so many large meals.

Later on tonight we will watch the Beijing Opera, which is performed in our hotel. Busses of tourists come to our hotel to watch the opera. This should be good. Below are some pics from the park this morning.