Day 2 Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. The emperor lived inside this walled area of Beijing (Peking) with his wife, children and concubines and he rarely left the city. We were shocked at the size! It was located in the middle of Beijing, not far from our hotel, and right behind the famous photo of Mao Tse Tung hanging in Tienanmen Square. This was really our first excursion with our tour guide, Eric.

Take a look at all the people in the background of these pictures. It was packed. All Chinese people desire to see this very important part of their history. Again, we were one of only very few "Westerners" visiting the historical Forbidden City.

The pictures cannot convey all the things we saw. The place was huge, old and a pilgrimage for young and old.




Try to see the umbrellas in the background. It wasn't raining but all the people in China carry umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun. We got poked in the eye and head more than once by those sun shades!