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Monday in Beijing turned out to be the day that we truly came to grasp the immense scale of the city. After breakfast at our hotel we walked through the hutong to the main street to catch a taxi, checking out this barber along the way. From looking at the map it didn't seem like it would be too far to get to our first destination, the Temple of Heaven, but we were wrong- it was far. Luckily taxis in Beijing aren't too expensive, and the driver dropped us off at the entrance to the monument, saving alot of walking. We entered the park around the monument where we saw lots of people getting their morning exercise, everything from hip-hop and ballroom dancing to tai-chi, to the people in the photograph doing some sort of tai-chi with fans.
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We entered the monument from the north, so we first saw the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.
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The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. The building was built in the 1400s, and amazingly was constructed without nails.
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Joe and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest.
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The building is loaded with symbolism, such as the number of pillars which represent the four seasons, twelve months and twelve hours and combine to represent the solar cycle. The complex was used for the Emperor to perform ritual sacrifices to Heaven, as the Emperor was considered the Son of Heaven, so each part of the strucure carries meaning.
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We continued to walk south through the complex and next arrived at the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The best part about this area of the complex was the Echo Wall surrounding the Vault. The yellow wall on either side of the Vault formed a circle that allowed one of us to stand behind the building at the right, and the other to stand behind the building at the left and have a conversation in a normal voice, despite being about 50 yards apart and having two buildings separating us.
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The interior ceiling of the Vault.
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The Altar of Heaven was the last part of the complex that we came to.
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Looking back to the north. For a different perspective on the scale of Tiantan click here for a google satellite image.
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Our next stop was for a quick lunch near the south gate of Tiantan.
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I'm not usually a fan of soda, but for some reason both times I visited China I found myself drinking Coke. Perhaps it is made with a different type of sugar?
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A tomato and egg dish that we really liked. Hopefully the large quantities of veggies that we ate balanced out the unhealthy soda. We also enjoyed a tofu dish, some soup, green beans and rice.
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Our next stop of the day was Tiananmen Square, so we walked to the nearest subway station. This photo of the road gives an idea of the scale of Beijing- huge.
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We came out of the subway at the south end of Tiananmen Square, near Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall. The hall isn't open on Mondays, so we headed north to the Forbidden City. Below is the Chairman's Hall.
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Who doesn't love some good socialist realism? Are we uplifted? Yes! Will the workers prevail? Yes!
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Decoration on the rail that surrounds Mao's masoleum.
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Looking north towards the Forbidden City with the Monument to the People's Heroes in the foreground. Click here for the google satellite image of Tiananmen Square.
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The Gate of Heavenly Peace!
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Passing through The Gate of Heavenly Peace, headed toward The Forbidden City. Again the scale is difficult to fathom, so here's another satellite image, the Gate is at the south end, and the Forbidden City is surrounded by the moat. The Forbidden City, which acted as the Imperial Palace during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (500 years from 1416 to 1911) has nearly 10,000 rooms in hundreds of buildings. In the nearly four hours we spent walking around the complex we saw a tiny fraction of it.
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I think this was the third gate that we came to, and is the proper entrance to the Forbidden City.
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The relief carvings on the Imperial Way, only the Emperor was allowed to walk on the path that forms the central axis of the Forbidden City.
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The Hall of Supreme Harmony.
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Walking and walking and walking..... Luckily there were vendors along the way, so we could re-stock our water supply and snack on some ice cream. This is maybe the half-way point from the south gate of the Forbidden City. The small structure in the far distance at the center of the photo sits atop Coal Hill, which is at the far north end of the Forbidden City, so from this point we had a good distance to go.
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The details on each building were quite amazing, it's hard to imagine such detailed workmanship on such a large scale.
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I think this is the Hall of Preserving Harmony. By this point we had seen the Hall of Central Harmony and Hall of Supreme Harmony, and a good deal of thrones and other buildings, so it became difficult to keep them all straight.
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Decoration on one of the buildings.
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Woof.
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One of the rock gardens near the north end of the Forbidden City.
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One of the side structures. We tried to make our way back south to see the Nine Dragon Screen and some of the other collections, but they began to close off some areas around 4 p.m., so we missed it.
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With tired feet we made our way back to the hotel to rest for a bit. This hot potato vendor was walking the main street near the hotel.
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Some of the cool modern architecture along the ring roads.
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We opted for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. I have written before about my guilty love of their overpriced corporatized veggieburgers and nachos, but once again, the pull of collecting another pin lured me like a moth to a flame....
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Nachos......
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