Last Day in Beijing

Oh my feet!  We had an excellent day, but 3 days of walking is enough for me.  Good thing tomorrow is fly, then meet our daughter (in the hotel), then take it slow as we get to know each other.  I know I should be anxious or excited or a whole mix of things, but mostly I just feel peace.  Finally she will be in our arms.  How ever it all plays out doesn't matter; there are too many possible scenarios to guess and worry about, so why bother.  We will find our stride in time.  I am just so happy and content to be finally at the start of our journey together.  I may play a different tune tomorrow, but today I feel more peace and contentment about our daughter than I've felt this whole, long process.  While I believe we are Plan B, C, or even D for our daughter, I feel complete confidence that we are the perfect Plan D for each other (hmmm, she is plan A for us...but hopefully you understand what I mean without all the appropriate caveats).

So no profound blog post...and no energy to do my photos from today justice.  So you get one photo and a quick run down of our day.  (This is mostly for my good friend in Colorado and for helping me remember.)

Tienanmen Square first, then a walk through the Forbidden City.  We must have been moving pretty slow because towards the end he really rushed us through the Royal Garden...which is where I would have loved to have spent the whole time.

Poor Oak was a little anxious when I would lag behind taking pictures, but I always had someone from the group in my sight...even if I did have to run to keep up occasionally.  It wasn't too risky since everyone in the city was going the same direction.

Then we took a Hutong Tour.  I had to google that before I came, but I know the rest of you know what that is.  No?  Well, we rode in rickshaws around the old part of Beijing and stopped at one person's home.  Our guide was named "Potato," but he told us we could call him "Spud" if we like.  At some point I will post pictures of the home, it was very interesting.  Oak purchased a painting of the Chinese characters of Sweet Pea's Chinese name.  It was fascinating to watch and Huckleberry said it was the coolest thing he had seen in China.  I guess Tienanmen Square didn't make much of an impression. 

Then we went to a Chinese restaurant (not on our agency map, but arranged by our guide) and had the best meal we'd had so far.  It even included a tomato and egg dish I remembered from my last trip to Beijing 15 years ago.  It still tasted just as delicious.  I had our guide write the name down in Chinese so we can order it in Nanchang.  So excited about that!  Sure we want to experiment and explore, but I also want to fill up.


We got back to the hotel and we planned, just Oak, Huckleberry and I, to go to the Summer Palace.  Our guide wrote down the name so we could take a taxi.  It would be about an hour ride.  However, when we went downstairs the hotel staff said the Summer Palace closed at 5 and we might not make it in time.  So after a few pointing at map and time questions we ended up taking a taxi to the Temple of Heaven.  We had an awesome time.  However, while when we got there some of the main attractions in the park were open, by the time we'd explored and decided which part to pay more to see (Oak and Huckleberry didn't want to walk through EVERYTHING, and I can't say I blamed them) the attractions, like the actual Temple were closed.  It was okay, though.  The grounds were beautiful and we saw several different musical performances.  Plus it was a real joy to be able to stop and take pictures on my own timing!  Looking forward to Nanchang for that reason, too...though the real reason for going outweighs that by a long shot!


So I should...and will...tell you about how we got back to the hotel, but lets just say it was a grand adventure and we did make it by 8:00 p.m.  Now we are finishing packing...very quickly...and then off to sleep.  We meet our travel group at 4:30 a.m. (yes, China time) in order to fly to Jiangxi Province!  Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!