First full day touring Beijing

For some reason I am having trouble blogging from our notebook computer. But we have loads of pictures and plenty of notes from our journals. BTW thank you Krohnies (my co-workers @ conservatory) for the sweet journal. We loved your notes. Full, fun and fascinating Friday in Beijing. Tomorrow we will meet the other half of our group who finally arrived after some big time flight delays. We will go to a Jade market, the Great Wall and then the Summer Palace. Our guide Shirley is pretty terrific and giving us some interesting perspective on life in China. She was born and lives in Beijing. Sunday we fly to Nanchang and receive Audrey in the afternoon!
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TIANAMEN SQUARE TOUR:

Our guide "Shirley" at the beginning of our tour of Tianamen Square.  Some interesting facts about this site:  it is the largest gathering place in the world and is quite ancient.  Also iconic as it is right next to Forbidden City.

On one side of Tianamen Square is their main parliamentary building.

This is where Mao's body is raised and lowered daily.  I did not see a line for this but apparently there is always a line to go in even when it was as cold as it was the day we visited.

Monuments to honor those who gave their lives for China.

Opposite the parliament building is China's National Museum. 

Prior to the 2008 Olympics these big screens showing video of Chinese  landscapes were installed in Tianamen Square.

FORBIDDEN CITY

Our group heading towards the entrance of the Forbidden City.  This was the Imperial Palace for Chinese emperors from the Ming to Qing Dynasty. 

It was constructed over a 14 period, 1407 - 1420, during the Ming Dynasty and home for 24 emperors through the early prat of the 20th  Century.   It was forbidden to commoners and not open to the public until

The image we think of relative to Forbidden City.

Mark K carrying our FTIA flag to keep us together in this HUGE site.

Forbidden City is surrounded by 30' tall walls and a 6' moat.  The area is 8 million square feet or 168  acres or about 140 football fields.

It has 9,999 rooms.  9 is a lucky number to the Chinese.

It was sooo cold that day.  We experienced a lot warmer weather as trip continued.

Towards the end of the tour is this spot where many Chinese couples get engaged.

The intertwined trees at the exit.

TOURING THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE

In the afternoon we briefly toured the Olmypic Village.  You can see from this picture that the smog had settled in quite a bit more in the afternoon.

The Water Cube

We were told this is the best hotel in Beijing where people like Bill Gates, etc stayed during the 2008 Olympics.

ACROBATIC SHOW

Our day ended with an acrobatic show.  This is the only picture I have since my camera battery died right about then.  But you could only take pictures after it was voer anyhow.  The show was an hour long and pretty impressive.  The seat were very close together so the taller members of our group were very happy the show was not any longer. 

We are in China

We arrived in Beijing at 4:30 pm today. The airport is huge.  Largest in the world. According to our guide, "Grace" 900 flights take off and land here daily. Our hotel is in old town. We met our coordinator Shirley at the hotel. She gave us an update about Audrey. Tomorrow we will tour  the Forbidden City and see an Acrobatic Show. Right now we are fighting going to sleep for just another 30 minutes to help recover from jet lag.
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We had some free time the first full morning and decided to explore around our hotel.

So this is a view out our room at the Kuntai.  Right across the street from us was the Beijing Folklore Museum (opened in 1999) located in the Dongyue Taoist Temple (built in 1319). 

This is the only folklore museum in Beijing and the admission was only 10 yuan (about $1.50 each).

"Fortune cards"

Model of the temple.

 Because we had packed so little and I'd read Rick Steves tips to traveling lightly I also did laundry in our room that first day.  This was also the only day I did this as I quickly discovered how cheap it was to get our laundry done.

And we are off

We have been up since 4:30 and leaving for the airport in just a few minutes. It is so exciting that this trip is starting.
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Testing with picture

Now I am testing to see if I can post to our blog with a picture. This is a pictuir of my bulliten board @ work.
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Testing

We are trying to blog from my phone to see if this will be an option when we travel.
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Inside China Travel Itinerary

Yesterday we received our inside China travel itinerary which is:

Thursday December 2:  Arrive in Beijiing, staying at the Kuntai Royal Hotel for 3 nights.

Our agency coordinator in Beijing will be "Shirley".

Tours arranged for us while we are in Beijing include the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Forbidden City and an Acrobatic Show Friday afternoon.  Sounds like a lot for just a few days.



Lobby of Kuntai Hotel




Forbidden City



The Great Wall



Summer Palace



Acrobatic Show



Sunday December 5 we fly to Nanchang in the morning and will stay at the Galactic Peace International Hotel ... and "GOTCHA DAY" is scheduled for the afternoon at the hotel!



Nanchang



Monday December 6: Looks like a full day of paperwork starting with the Civil Affairs Bureau and then delivering to Notary Office.

Tuesday - Thursday December 7-9  Optional tour / free time while we wait to pick up notarized paperwork.  It looks like we may be allowed to visit the orphanage during this time.

Friday December 10:  We pickup the babies passports and fly to Guangzhou where we will stay at the White Swan Hotel for 6 nights. The White Swan is the hotel most adoptive families stay in during their time in Guangzou and where the traditional red couch photos are taken.



White Swan Lobby



Saturday December 11: AM All the babies have their visa pictures taken and medical exams.

Sunday  December 12:  Optional tour / free time while we wait for Visa to be processed.

Monday December 13:  AM Our agency coordinator submits the babies visa application documents to the US Consulate.

Afternoon:  We take our group-oath at the Consulate (no pictures allowed in the consulate but I've read on some blogs that the number of Americans taking this oath can be 100+).

Tuesday Dec 14 & Wed Dec 15 AM:  Option tour / free time while we wait for Visa to be processed.

Wednesday December 15 afternoon:  Our group receives our babies visa's at the Consulate which means we can come home.

Thursday December 16 AM:  Fly from Guangzhou to Beijing (4 hour layover), Then fly to Chicago.  Once we make it through customs in Chicago Audrey will officially become an American.





Fall 2010 additions to our garden

 The picture above is a Forest Pansy Redbud ('Cercis Canadenis').

 Close up picture of this type of Redbud's leaf.

 Over the weekend John bought this Pansy to plant in our garden with Audrey in mind.  He planted this tree in the bed we where we previously tried to grow vegetables. 

 I was very little help to John in planting this tree.

 The doll's arm John found buried in the soil when he was digging the hole for the redbud.  When we landscaped our garden in the Spring of 2006 the landscapers found lots of relics like this all over the backyard.

 Today I planted 260 more bulbs.  Tulips in the patio area. 

 Chinodoxa Lucilae with the hostas.  These will naturalize.

 Bluebells (scilla siberica) and daffodils ('dutch master') around the redbud.

and Dwarf Iris in the courtyard area.