May 6th Temple of Heaven

A week ago I wrote about our last day in Beijing and that we ended the day with a trip to the Temple of Heaven...well, the park around it.  I don't have any pictures of Sweet Pea from that day...we finally got to meet her the next day...but I do have a lot of pictures.  

Taking a picture of the map to help us get around.  Turned out they were at almost every intersection.

We'd promised Huckleberry ice cream to get him to go with us on one more tour.

E is for Ehru in our children's Alphabet through China picture book.

Everyone seemed to take pictures with their arms up so we tried it.  Felt pretty silly doing it.

Ancient Architecture combine with Modern Transportation

The Main Temple...we think...we missed the chance to go in.  Still very interesting from the outside.

There were musical performances going on all over the park.  The music was all very beautiful.  We watched and listened to this group for a very long time.  Oak recorded the sounds of some of the groups with his iPod. 

The closed doors...but a fairly traditional tourism shot.

What?  Why do you need another picture?  Let's go get a taxi.

The walk back to the entrance.  Lots of beautiful green.

Let's watch this girl get a taxi to see how it is done.  She talked to 2 taxis before leaving in one.

So we stood and 2 different taxis stopped but they said "no" and drove away.  From one taxi came a bilingual woman.  She said, "he does not want your fare" and walked away.  What to do?  Luckily we had the subway map and their was a station right across the street.

Not during rush hour.

Follow the crowd.

3 different lines and 2 transfers...all for 2 RMB each person...it was time to go back to the topside of the street.

And walk some more.  It was starting to get a little dark.  We were starting to get a little more than a little tired.

Thankfully most of the streets we needed to cross had overpasses.

What is taking you so long?  Are you taking PICTURES!  Ummm...no?

A late dinner at McDonalds.  We needed something to make it those last 2 blocks...but at this point we were pretty sure we'd be able to find our hotel...and we were right.  Yeah!  We didn't have to call our guide for help.  Now we had to pack quickly for the next very important day.  We mostly enjoyed that adventure very much.  I'd wanted to take the Subway in Beijing, but I had figured we didn't have the time.  I guess I was wrong.