Today we woke up early and ate breakfast as a large group before we headed to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Breakfast buffets at the hotel are quite varied, ranging from Asian dishes to fried rice to some western foods like fried eggs. They also have a ton of fruit which is our favorite part, and Tsun-Ju eats more food then I have ever seen such a tiny woman eat!
Our hotel is only about 10 minutes from the Forbidden City so we hopped on and off the bus and quickly arrived in front of the National Museum of China. We did not know if we would be visiting Tiananmen Square until we got on the bus, most likely to ensure there were no protests that day and/or chances for any violence or unrest. What an incredible sight, I had no idea how bhg the area was and how HUGE the Chairman Mao portrait was! They also put two large video screens in the square when the 2008 Olympics were in Beijing which were very large and so modern looking.
We walked through the square into a heavily secured area to see the building up close. And then we walked through it to the Forbidden City, which served as the emporer's home. It was absolutely ENORMOUS! It was an entire city at one point, and contains 9,999.5 rooms. They restored a lot of it for the Olympics so it is very beautiful and ornate, and it took us about 2 hours to walk through. We walked over the Emporer's bridge and saw many of the rooms and gardens (full of beautiful rocks and trees) throughout the city. Being there made the entire group realize how new the U.S. is!
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