Beijing

Next, we flew to Beijing, arriving late in the evening. 

The next morning, we went to Tiananmen Square. But before we actually go there, we had to through four security lines where they scanned our faces and bags. On the last security check, they actually went through every single thing in each of our bags. The kids and I passed, but in Tom’s bag they found two decks of playing cards, which they confiscated. The girl behind us had a flower shaped pen taken from her. 

Tom asked our guide, “Were the cards taken because gambling is illegal?”

Our guide laughed really hard at that for some reason and then said, “No, it was because they could have political propaganda on it.” 

“What about the flower pen of the little girl?”

“Oh, that is because of political symbolism.”

She did not elaborate, and we didn’t press further.

We then walked into Tiananmen Square, which is just a big open area … in the shape of a square. 

Our guide said, “many important events happened in this area,” but she notably did not give details …. and definitely not the details that could explain the confiscation of playing cards and flowers. Tom and I gave each other a lot of side-eyes during our time in Beijing because of things being said … or not said. 

I’ll be upfront. 

I did not like Beijing. 

There was a personality to the city that was aggravating, frustrating, crowded, and, at times, obnoxious. However, it was NEVER boring. There was still so much, even though I was half-annoyed, that was uttering fascinating. 

Like this.

Mao Zedong's photo on the entrance to the Forbidden City, the home of emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties

Or, the fact that every gate and hall in this Emperor’s palace was about “harmony.”

Gate of Glorious Harmony

Gate of Blending Harmony

Hall of Supreme Harmony

Hall of Central Harmony

Hall of Preserving Harmony

It was like everyone needed a reminder that we live in harmony as long as we agree with the Emperor, or possibly whoever's photo is there ...

The Forbidden City was huge. I felt like we walked for miles as we wove through all the gates/halls of harmony and around corridors.

We did get a little excited when we recognized what seemed to be an inspiration for the dragon scroll featured in the amazing classic "Kung Fu Panda."

the dragon scroll from Kung Fu Panda

Walking down the street later, Lucy made a friend.

Afterwards, we went to the Temple of Heaven. This was a Taoist temple complex that was only used by the emperor to pray for good harvests during the Ming Dynasty. 

Unfortunately, on the day we visited, it was the first day of the Qingming Festival. We had heard about this three-day festival at the start of our trip, but it was supposed to for families to clean off the tombs of their ancestors. We, foolishly, did not think it would affect us because certainly people are going to be out at tombs and temples, right? Wrong! I’m convinced everyone skipped honoring their ancestors and came to Beijing to see some sites instead.  

Here is our lovely outing at the Temple of Heaven. 

Waiting to get in through the gate.

working our way up to the temple

at the top, so fun...

It was bad.

We went inch by inch, clutching each other’s hands while getting shoved by old ladies who shamelessly pushed the kids so they could climb the steps up the temple first.

It was so unpleasant that we reconsidered our trip to the Great Wall of China scheduled for the next day. 

I know. The Great Wall of China is one of those things you are supposed to do in China, but I was not excited about driving several hours in traffic to get a repeat of the Temple of Hell, I mean, Heaven chaos. 

I found these photos from the fall during a different short national holiday. 

This was a big nope. 

We had our tour guide cancel our tickets and book seats at an acrobatic show instead. 

We couldn't take pictures during the show, but it was AMAZING!!!

I think we made the right call. We certainly had a great time! 

Then we filled in the extra hours by visiting a drum tower, playing some Chinese hacky sack, and visiting some big malls.

These guys came to play! They even brought gloves!

We even picked up some new playing cards to replace the ones that were taken by security.

On our last day in Beijing, we visited the Summer Palace. It was still crowded, but more manageable. 

Then we went to the train station for our high-speed train to Xian. While on board, Lucy made yet more friends. 

Sometimes mothers would literally push their children (usually bearing candy) toward ours to get them to try out their English language skills. This was always a sweet time because the kids were shy with each other, especially when practicing a new language, and yet you can tell them wanted to try.