Day 3 - Forbidden City

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Much warmer weather today. A high of 28C and typically hazy but high humidity so it felt pretty uncomforatable as we were doing a lot of walking. Went from Tianamen Square through the Imperial Palace and what is known to the tourists as the Forbidden City. Fascinating builidngs, decor and layout and pretty mind-boggling to think that much of it is more than 500-1000 years old.

Lots of artefacts from the Ming and Qing dynasties and it certainly extended my knowledge of Chinese history although Jo seemed well versed having watched Disney's Mulan a large number of times. The Forbidden City covers about a square kilometre and certainly in the later palaces is a network of smaller areas that it is easy to get lost in. We walked for ages and popped out at the north gate. I made sure to walk through the Gate of Good Fortune but for some reason the kids seemed a little reluctant to head through the Gate of Heavenly Obedience.

Went out for the full whack for dinner tonight as the hotel recommended a Peking Duck restaurant just around the corner. The food was great and once the kids got over the thought of eating a cute fluffy duck then they got stuck in too. It was the traditional cooking & serving and the staff were really helpful to us. Jo got a minor telling off for being a bit too Aussie abroad and slugging beer from the bottle. We all laughed pretty hard at that one.

I have some pics to put up but I can't get access from this computer.

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