May 15th, 2010 - Tienanmen Square / The Forbidden City / The Great Wall of China.

Today we went on a long trip to Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China. 

Actually, being a kid, I thought Tienanmen Square was very boring because it was basically a long walk in a big square, and there's nothing interesting to see there.  Well, there were some statues of different people, but I didn't know who they were or what they were doing.

Here I am walking around Tienanmen Square:

Chairman Mao is interred (his body is on display) here.  There was also a giant TV wall in the middle of the square.

After Tienanmen Square, we went to the Forbidden City which was right next to Tienanmen Square.

Here is a picture of one of the guards at the entrance to the Forbidden City:

The Forbidden City is where the Emperor used to live.  He and his family (and servants) were the only ones allowed in the Forbidden City.  It is a really big place.

Here's a picture of one of the inner courtyards of the Forbidden City:

In the afternoon, we went to the Great Wall of China.  I was tired after only walking three miles on the Great Wall.  It is over 4000 miles long and was built by one of the emperors to keep out invaders like the Huns.

Here is a picture of me on the Great Wall:

Here are some more shots from up on the Great Wall:

My folks have put more pictures up on Flickr here:   Scheer Adoption 2010 pics

(Did you know that you cannot see the Great Wall of China from the moon?  There's some interesting information about the Great Wall out on Wikipedia.)

I'm soooooooo excited because tomorrow we fly to Nanchang and we'll get Mari!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

May 14th, 2010 - Temple of Heaven / Hutong / Chinese Golden Acrobats.

We went to the Temple of Heaven on a very cloudy day but it didn't rain.  We rode on a slug bus (see picture above).  And then we got lunch.  Then we went up in a tower, saw a drum show, went on rickshaws, saw a presentation and went back to the hotel.

(Next time you will see the great wall.)

Summer Palace picture -- Dragon Boat.

Here is a picture of a "Dragon Boat" at the summer palace.

PS.  Don't forget to look at my folks' blog at:  http://www.scheeradoption2010.blogspot.com/

Summer Palace picture -- Peacock statue.

Here's a picture of me by a peacock statue at The Summer Palace.

Pictures of the Summer Palace.

Here are some pictures from the Summer Palace – one of the buildings and a lion statue.

Thursday May 13th -- The Summer Palace.

Today we started the day by visiting the Summer Palace.  That is the Emporor's vacation home.  It was very big.  There were a whole bunch of boats in the water, and you could see fish in the water.  The palace grounds cover over 600 acres!  I think the best thing about the Summer Palace was that we got to go on a boat ride in a "Dragon Boat".

 

On the way to the Summer Palace, we drove by The Birds Nest (the Olympic Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics). 

 

After the Summer Palace, we came back to the hotel and swam.

"Gumby" the Goblin Shark.

This is the Goblin Shark we saw.  I named him "Gumby".