Silk Market & Forbidden City

We certainly walked a lot today....

We started the morning with a trip to a beautiful park. We walked around the perimeter of the park and saw many people dancing, singing, exercising, etc...

From here our guide took us to a very good silk factory. They showed us how the cocoons are woven into silk. They told us that they even either eat the silkworm, or it's used for medicinal purposes... no waste here!!

From here, we went to Tianamen Square. This is a very large area in front of the Forbidden City. The only downside to these areas is the extremely large throngs of folks who attack you to buy souveniers that they are selling. Picture throwing a french fry to a bunch of seagulls and watch them all try to get it. Well we felt like the french fry. The people following you and begging for money get old real quick.

Anyway, we walked over to the entrance to the Forbidden city. The place is amazing. To think that emporers from the Ming and Qing dynasties walked (or were most likely carried) in these same passages.

In the evening we went for Peking Duck to one of the oldest restaurants.....It was excellent!!!! The restaurant was started in the Qin dynasty in the early 1800's.

We can't wait for the group to get here. They arrive in the afternoon tomorrow and we REALLY can't wait for Monday to get our little girl!!!!

I posted more pictures from the past few days....
The photos can be viewed at:

http://hnnahfrank.myphotoalbum.com