Beijing Tour - Day Two (Lots of Pictures!)

The weather on our second day of touring Beijing was spectacular. In then end, I think I liked what we saw on this day even better than the first, although it is a close call.

We started out at the Lamma Temple. It is the largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple outside of Tibet.

The layout was actually a lot like the Forbidden City.

Inside this building is the largest Buddhist statue made out of one solid tree. It was like 14 meters tall, I think. We weren't allowed pictures, but Pete and Lucy modeled the Guinness Book of World Records plaque.

After the temple, we went to the Temple of Heaven, which is actually mostly a gigantic park. There were all sorts of people milling about, dancing, playing cards, singing, etc. This couple was taking a dance class - I thought they were cute.

Singing and playing the accordian.

Lucy with a new friend. She reached out to say, "Hi!' ...

then the girl reached out to say, "Hi!" back. Too cute.

Wedding pictures ... pretty cool.

These people let Pete play ribbon dancing.

He tried to amuse Lucy with his mad new skills.

After that, he played this ball game with ...

... this lady. He thought is was just for fun, but then she tried to sell us the ball and racquets.

There are three main sites at the Temple of Heaven, other then the park. This is where the emperor went to pray at the end of the harvest.

The emperor said some prayers at this place too, but I don't remember why.

Lucy with another friend.

How cute is this picture!

I think this is the third temple - I think they prayed at the beginning of the harvest here.

You guessed it- another friend. Nice hat.

Lucy and Mama.

This lady was karaoking - it was hilarious.

When we left we did a quick drive by the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube.

And here we are at the Summer Palace. Actually, the emperor and his gang liked to hang out here most of the time. They preferred this to the Forbidden City and I don't blame them. It was gorgeous there!

We took this Dragon Boat across the lake and then walked back around the lake.

Here's our first glimpse at the palace.

Up close.

This was a boat the emperor commissioned - it was beautiful.

A bridge across a little stream. I like this place - I would have hung out here if I was the empress.

Who could that be? Oh, another friend. Lucy seems to be getting bored of fame by this point.

Another bride - I'm sure pictures here were amazing.

I put this picture in because I was trying really hard to get Lucy to look at me and smile. I kept trying and trying, but she was distracted. Then I looked behind me and found about 10 people staring at her. She was like, "Seriously! What's the deal here people? Get a life!"

The walkway back to the start.

I liked the idea of these two guys coming here for their afternoon walk and a chat. I think that would be nice.

Final view of the palace before we left.

If ever get around to actually sending Christmas cards, you will be seeing this picture again. :)

Before we left the hotel, I took a few pictures of our place. Like I said, there were four rooms and several common areas, but we had it all to ourselves for the entire four days. After living in 650 square feet for a year and a half, it felt good to have some space. This was the common area right outside our room.

Downstairs to the living room.

Dining room.

Kitchen.

Study.

Outside porch.

Our room. I think Lucy is taking a nap in this pic.

Well, that pretty much covers it. Shortly after I took these pictures we packed our bags and headed back to Hong Kong. It was really a very, very wonderful vacation - one for the memory books. We have been truly blessed to see all of these things - there are some pretty cool places to see in this world.