I apologize for these images being too small - my internet connection is SO slow and it takes forever to resize them via html ... so I'm giving up for now. LOL. Above - us at Tianamen Square. Below - Tianamen Square - it was HUGE and there were people everywhere!
Across the street from Tianamen Square is the Forbidden City - we walked through an underground walkway under the street to get to it from Tianamen Square. Not sure if you can see, but there were people all over the place because it was a holiday.
The Forbidden City was called "forbidden" because it's where the emperors used to live and common people were forbidden from entering. Below is a picture of one of the massive entrance doors - the emperor's lucky # was 9, so there are 9 knobby thingys across ... it is considered good luck to touch as many of the knobs as you can.
Below, I think this is the actual palace within the Forbidden City where the emperor lived. There were so many gates and different buildings, it was hard to remember what was what. You can see just how HUGE this place was. It felt like we walked forever and it just kept going!! It was really just gorgeous!
The deail is just amazing - the colors were so vivid!!
One of the entrances - I just love the English translations here - some of them are really funny!
These 2 trees in the Forbidden City garden are called the "Love Trees" ... they start as separate trees but wind together up at the top. I think it is considered good luck to have your picture taken there.
That's our fantastic guide, Lisa, taking a picture for another couple at the Love Trees.
Everything was really just remarkable - the detail in everything is exquisite!
This is the moat going around the outer gate of the Forbidden City - they wanted to make sure no one got in!!
So I am really far behind on blogging, I'll try to work on the rest later today! But so far, here is the Forbidden City. I shot TONS more, but my internet connection is SO slow and I am working on a netbook without a good editing program ... so I am picking and choosing what I post. I'm hoping to get to the Great Wall pictures later today!
I apologize for these images being too small - my internet connection is SO slow and it takes forever to resize them via html ... so I'm giving up for now. LOL. Above - us at Tianamen Square. Below - Tianamen Square - it was HUGE and there were people everywhere!
Across the street from Tianamen Square is the Forbidden City - we walked through an underground walkway under the street to get to it from Tianamen Square. Not sure if you can see, but there were people all over the place because it was a holiday.
The Forbidden City was called "forbidden" because it's where the emperors used to live and common people were forbidden from entering. Below is a picture of one of the massive entrance doors - the emperor's lucky # was 9, so there are 9 knobby thingys across ... it is considered good luck to touch as many of the knobs as you can.
Below, I think this is the actual palace within the Forbidden City where the emperor lived. There were so many gates and different buildings, it was hard to remember what was what. You can see just how HUGE this place was. It felt like we walked forever and it just kept going!! It was really just gorgeous!
The deail is just amazing - the colors were so vivid!!
One of the entrances - I just love the English translations here - some of them are really funny!
These 2 trees in the Forbidden City garden are called the "Love Trees" ... they start as separate trees but wind together up at the top. I think it is considered good luck to have your picture taken there.
That's our fantastic guide, Lisa, taking a picture for another couple at the Love Trees.
Everything was really just remarkable - the detail in everything is exquisite!
This is the moat going around the outer gate of the Forbidden City - they wanted to make sure no one got in!!
So I am really far behind on blogging, I'll try to work on the rest later today! But so far, here is the Forbidden City. I shot TONS more, but my internet connection is SO slow and I am working on a netbook without a good editing program ... so I am picking and choosing what I post. I'm hoping to get to the Great Wall pictures later today!
SO stinkin' excited you are in China!!! Woohoo!
ReplyDeleteHey, we were there yesterday too. We were the other white folks, lol! See you in Guangzhou!
ReplyDeleteOh, these pics bring it all back -- we did the same picture by the love trees. Did you have to wait a while to take that picture? There was a long line when we were there!
ReplyDelete