Day 3 - More touring

Today we met the other family that is adopting from Hebei....they are so lovely. I feel lucky to get to share this experience with them and their sweet 8 year old daughter. Their daughter is about a month younger than Grace....she is very sweet and doing quite well it seems in this very foreign place. We are all getting anxious for gotcha day!

Today we toured Tienanmen Square, a silk factory, and The forbidden City. China really is an amazing place. It amazes me how old and steeped with tradition many of these places are in China. There is so much new construction in Beijing, everywhere you go there are new high rises being built, but then there are also places like The Forbidden City that are SO SO OLD. We have learned quite a bit from our guide Forst, so thankful that we took the time to tour these places.

Here is a picture from the silk factory, these women were stretching out silk fibers that will be made into a silk quilt insert.

Tienanmen Square. Picture of Chairman Mao, the Chinese still hold a deep respect for him. There is also a Mausoleum on the other side of Tienanmen Square where his body is kept. Our guide said on days they have that open to the public, you would wait several hours in line to get in. 

Another picture of Tienanmen Square, I believe that is the parliament building behind us, and I forget the name of the monument...I'll have to look that up later.

Picture of the military men guarding the Forbidden City. TJ got 2 pictures before we were told no pictures. These military "men" really look like just boys. Our guide said that they start in the military at age 18. I guess that just shows I am getting old...because I thought they just looked like babies yet.



Picture with our guide Forst at the Forbidden City. We REALLY enjoyed him. If you can see his shirt...he is a big Eagles fan.

Picture in front of the "love tree"

This is a picture of our Coke and diet Coke cans. They actually don't have diet coke here...it is Coca Cola light....but it will work!

Picture of the street outside our hotel (Novotel Peace in Beijing) at night. It is really very neat here. It's a very upscale area like Michigan Ave in Chicago. There are a lot of very upscale shops here. There is a Louis Vuitton shop right across the street, and many car dealerships like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and many more. I don't think this area is reality to many Chinese people though...

Had a great day. We survived another day of Chinese traffic and smog! We ate at an Irish restaurant...had a cheese burger and fries. It tasted different than home, but was nice to have something more familiar looking on my plate.

It's getting so close now to "Cora time." I am so anxious to get my hand on her. Please pray that this is not to traumatic for her and she is able to attach to us quickly.

-katie