Blue Skies in Beijing

Ahh, so nice to see blue sky. Sunny beautiful 30 degrees, but no humidity here in Beijing today, such a relief as we have lots of sightseeing outside this week. Comment of the day, as we approached Tiananmen Square (we had a good laugh, Theresa, the other adoptive mom allowed me to write her into my blog), "there are so many Chinese people here!" This impressive huge space of 440 000 sq. meters, fenced off, patrolled, and security check at the entrance, was covered in groups of tourists, many with their own "group hat", but "so many Chinese tourists"! I guess she just thought, being a great tourist attraction, there'd be many more non-Asians. China being so large and populated, "going to Beijing" is often a dream vacation. Nonetheless, Jim and Roger did not feel like the only non-Asians, as we saw travelers from all over the world, but mostly still "Asians" majority. In the middle stands the Monument to the People's Heroes, where uniformed children stood at attention. Just as Aidan asked me, "what if they have to go to the bathroom", there was a "shift change". We took our pictures, and thought to Aidan and Magnus, they probably didn't really understand what the big deal was, not knowing how significant that piece of land was in the history of China. Too much to get into at the time, we satisfied them and the pedlars they seemed to attract, with a couple of flags to play with, and hats, while we headed through the crowds to the Forbidden City. Through the impressive Tiananmen Tower, we were basically moved by mass osmosis effect with the crowd pushing forward. Good thing the babies were snug in the carriers.
I did feel for both dads, it was hot especially having a baby attached to them, and a lot of walking. Tsingtao for them when we return to the hotel!! Through 3 gates, we finally entered "the main palace". Partially refurbished for the Olympics, over the last several years, the details of the buildings and roof, were impressive, but I think after awhile, with two babies and 2 young children, we picked up the pace. Still I am in awe at how much history still stands. We departed the ancient City, and treated the boys to McDonald's, before heading back to the hotel for a quick stretch and freshening up, (restock on bottles for Kristen and diapers), and braved the taxi ride out to the Beijing zoo (not on our scheduled tour, but something to do for the kids). Surprisingly compared to my Changsha taxi experience, it was less stressful, maybe we were more relaxed, but he did drive less aggressively compared to my Changsha taxi driver. What a great idea the zoo was! Beautiful, shaded, less crowds (nearing the end of the afternoon), and Aidan and Magnus were able to run around without crowds to dodge. Ahhh, the adorable giant Panda!! Then we missed the Dolphin show, but checked out all the beautiful sculptures around the zoo. I think we took more pictures of Aidan and Magnus climbing the stone elephants, than of real animals. Made it back to the hotel after a slight detour, as our taxi driver took us to the Jianguo hotel, instead of the Jianguo GARDEN hotel. Then bascially showered and all asleep by 9! So no blogging time! But always time to Skype! Glad Nathan and Brendan are having such a great time at the McGoverns!

To be continued...