More Beijing

The first place we went Saturday morning was to the Temple of Heaven. It was where past emperors went to worship to heavens. It was interesting to learn about Taoism and ancient religions, but sad to know how lost those people were. Angela is a fabulous guide, and knows a ton. Traffic was great, the park wasn't crowded, and we made great time! All these old temple sites are now public parks. There were so many people out exercising and enjoying the sun.

Entrance gate. Don't you love how Eric humors me and lets me take his picture a million times? I've given up asking him to smile:)

These guys use water and write Chinese calligraphy on the stone ground. Angela said they write poems, stories, whatever they want.

Where ox were burned for sacrifice.
Another use for burlap! No slip steps






The juniper tree. There was a man standing there worshiping it. I said a little prayer for him.

We saw a lot of these carving in the middle walk way of steps.

Why we need a guide: Because Eric sucks at taking pictures;-) See below for evidence.
Our guide Angela. Love her!
Echo wall. You can stand on different parts of it, far away from one another, and have a normal conversation.

Snow on the roof.

The tallest building in Beijing. It's more spread out that spread up, as a city.

I had to ask our guide why all these people were crammed on this little wall. Turns out, the sunshine! It's always so hazy and polluted here, that true sunshine is rare. They were playing a variety of games.
Playing cards
Chinese Chess
Ladies exercising

This tour group was following the Angry Bird balloon. We got a good laugh out of that.
Little girl in the park. I wanted to go scoop her up and hug on her.

It's Sunday morning here. Eric is in the gym, and wants to stay in this hotel forever. It's like a resort, and we've been calling these couple of days our second honeymoon! We've had a great time to reconnect and recharge before jumping back into parenting full steam ahead.