On Monday we visited the Temple of Heaven. During the Ming and Qing dynasties the emperors used to offer sacrifices to heaven and pray for a good harvest here. It was built in 1420. On the way into the complex, we walked through a park where many locals were playing cards, checkers and knitting. 
This is the most famous building. It is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests
This is the Circular Mound Altar.
Our next stop was the Forbidden City. Over a span of 560 years, 24 emperors lived here. It was very cold while we were here!
Tian'anmen Square
This is the school that our hotel room faced. If you look closely, you can see little kids in uniforms on the different levels. They are saying a very long pledge to their flag with a song. We would see these kids come and go each day. Their school yard was cement and had ping pong tables.
Each morning they did exercises
We went to Pizza Hut in China. It was much fancier inside than our Pizza Huts and the menu had rice! After a long day of sight seeing, a cheese-stuffed pizza tasted great!
Fantastic pictures! Glad you are having such a great time! When we went to the Temple of Heaven our guide told us this was where all the "retards" liked to hang out and play cards. Ummm...he was talking about the "retired" folks and just couldn't get that long "i" sound. :)
ReplyDeleteheather