Touring the Forbidden City

Hello Everyone!

I should start off by saying when Xiaolong and I arrived in Beijing, we only stayed the night and then took a local flight to Xiaolong's home city: Taiyuan. We stayed there for about a week and then took the bullet train back to Beijing to travel around. This is what the train looked like:

So going through the timeline of my trip, the first place Xiaolong and I 'touristy' visited was Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. I was actually kind of disappointed with some of the pictures because my camera apparently has a speck on the sensor. :( I don't have any programs to enhance the pictures so all of them are what China looks like!

This is Tienanmen Square and the building behind me is the entrance to the Forbidden City. 

It was extremely hot that day and as you can see not a cloud in sight! It was hard to stand opening my eyes out there because it was so bright. 

This is a picture of one of the two lions that stand outside of the Forbidden City to protect it. Little did I know that there is actually a difference between them. Facing the city, the one on the left is female (the one pictured here) and the one of the right is male. How can you tell? The female is playing with a little baby lion under her foot and the male just has a ball under his. Interesting!

For those who don't know, the man in the picture behind the lion is Former Chairman Mao. He was the first leader of the new Republic of China and a beloved icon for most Chinese. 

Did you know the Forbidden City was surrounded by a huge moat? It's like a real European castle lol. This is the entrance and the bridge we crossed to get into the city.

These are pictures of the entrance just inside the city:

Moving past the front gate, there are many homes and sections to the city, it is kind of easy to get lost without a map! This one is where the Emperor's mother would sleep.

Towards the end of the tour and at the back of the city is where the Emperor's garden is found. It was big and had many beautiful rocks and flowers and pathways to other parts of the garden.

There are many rock formations put on pedestals because the rocks looked like forms of other creatures representing good luck, good fortune, or good health.

This tree, or should I say two trees, are very special. When they were planted, they weren't together. over the years they grew to one another like they were in love, which is why they are called the lover trees! 

This is just another beautiful spot we rested at during our walk through the garden.

So, this concludes the tour of the Forbidden City! I hope you enjoyed the pictures and learned something ;)

Bye!

What a Procrastinator!

Hello Everyone!
Sorry that I wasn't able to post my pictures to my blog while I was in China.
It seems I should have done some more research because apparently, the Chinese Government doesn't really like Google! Lol.
Anyways, I will post the majority of my pictures in sections based on where they were taken. I will also pick some of my favorites and tell little stories about them!
Hope you have fun reading about my experience in China and perusing through my pictures! :)

Erica