May 16, 2013 Beijing - Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Old Beijing

May 16, 2013

Beijing - Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Old Beijing

Our tour guide, Lee met us at 8:00 and soon afterwards our driver Shifui came to pick us up. Our driver dropped us off at the North East corner of Tiananmen Square. Dorothy, Lee and I went through a security point the N-E entrance of the square. Lee gave us details of all the buildings in and around the square including Mao’s Mausoleum, the Museum, The Parliament Building. Then we went through an underground tunnel to the Forbidden. As we were about to enter the Forbidden City, we saw a beautiful water show in front of the entrance gate that has a large picture of Chairman Mao. Then we went through 2 more gates before we got to the Palace of the Emperor. While we were making our way through the Forbidden City the soldiers and security people were roping off areas of the Forbidden City for the visit of a very important person. Eventually the mystery VIP was resolved when the President of Greece appeared and approached the people in the area that we were in. He shook the hands of the people and our guide, Lee was lucky enough to have her hand shaken by the President. After a Chinese lunch we visited the Drum Tower. I climbed to the top of the Tower to see a long row of drums and the various time systems that had been used including a water clock, incense burner and candle stick burner. Then we went to a small lake and went around it in a rickshaw. After this we went to tea house to sample a variety of teas. From there, we went for a Peking duck dinner and this was followed by the Peking Opera Show. This was a long day and we came home again tired out.

Tour groups in identifying white caps are entering Tiananmen Square.

Dorothy and  Con in front of Mao's Mausoleum on Tiananmen Square.

Parliament Buildings near Tiananmen Square.

Parliament Building near Tiananmen Square.

Our Guide, Lee and Dorothy in front of one of the two large TV  screens  on  Tiananmen Square.

Our Guide, Lee and Dorothy on  Tiananmen Square.

Parliament Building near Tiananmen Square.

Dorothy and Con  in front of beautifully manicured gardens on  Tiananmen Square.

Pedestrian tunnel between Tiananmen Square, subway and Forbidden  City entrance  gate. The Parliament  Building  is in the background.

Musical water fountains in the gardens before the Entrance  Gate to the  Forbidden City.

Dorothy and Con before a sacred column in front of the Entrance  Gate to  the  Forbidden City.

A guard gate protecting entry into the Emperor's Palace  in the Forbidden City

Dorothy and Con on a bridge over one of the canals in the Forbidden City.

Our Guide, Lee and Dorothy in the large square in front of one  of the  Emperor's  Buildings.

Dorothy and Con on the Emperor's Building before the square.. The guard gate is  in the  background.

Map of the Palace Grounds.

Bridge over the canal with buildings in the background surrounding  main square.

View of bridge crossing canal and large square before the Emperor's  building.

Emperor's building before main square.