A Day of Walking

My head is so full of facts and sights from today I find it hard to focus. We left our hotel at 8:30 this morning, and did not return until after 5:00. We started by walking by Tiananmen Square, then through the Forbidden City. After that it was the pearl store, lunch, then the Summer Palace, the silk store, and a Peking Duck dinner. Before we left this morning, Sherry warned us that it would be about 3 1/2 hours of walking. She never warned us how hard it would be to keep up with her.

The photo is from the Summer Palace, and the lake behind us is man made. The extent of the human effort made to complete all of the things we saw today is hard to comprehend. Especially considering how old everything is.

To give you a flavor of the things we saw, learned and experienced today here is our list.

- After three traditional Chinese meals at very nice restaurants, we have not seen a single egg roll. There have been several vegetables I could not identify.

- The Forbidden city is where the royal family lived. It has 10,000 rooms and family members were forbidden to leave, and commoners were forbidden to enter.

- Different emporers over time had between 200 and 3000 wives, called concubines in their language.

- The royal family were not Buddhists, but encouraged it among the commoners to make them better workers.

- The population of the Forbidden city was around 10,000 people. Only the servants were allowed in and out.

- To own an imported car in China you have to pay 100% tax on it. They are extremely fond of Audi's.

- A typical apartment in Beijing is under 1000 square feet and costs $300 per square foot.

- An oyster can contain over 20 pearls. China is the only place where you can get a golden pearl.

- The lifetime of a silkworm is 25 days from egg to cocoon.

- Silk is naturally water repellant and dust free. It is great for those with allergies.

- Jade comes in several colors besides green including pink, blue and lavendar. We go to a Jade store tomorrow.

- They call our bus driver James, because he drives like James Bond. I could never drive here, and I never want to. However, we still have not seen an accident, just near misses.

Overall, it has been a beautiful day here in the 50's. The plant life is starting to bud everywhere, hinting at how pretty the vegetation will be in a couple weeks. We did see blue sky today with the sun shining brightly and a brisk wind blowing. Only one more day to Sarah!