Wednesday, October 8, 2008

China - Day 13

Today was a day filled with lots of walking around. We went to the Forbidden City. Now, I can't really say much about it, except that there was a lot of walking involved. That place is huge, you just have palace after palace after palace... This is one of the places that you have to see in person to gather the plain old bigness of it. There is not really much else to say about it. We didn't go to any of the side palaces or anything.

The whole thing is laid out so you have all the emperor's palaces along a straight line from front to back. There are other palaces around the area, but there is plenty of room between them and the big palaces. Just walking straight through, with as few stops as dad would allow, it took us over two hours to get through. Of course, the subway station is only on one side of the city, it happens to be where the entrance is. So, after walking one way, directly away from the subway station, we had to turn around and walk back. We did not walk back through the city, they don't allow that, but we walked along the outside. The outside is just a really big wall, or, occasionally you will see some shops and things like that.

That was, in essence, our day. We did not do much else, except sleep and eat. Today we slept in to make up for some loss of sleep for the past few days. And speaking of a lack of sleep, I think I should get to bed! It's 12:30 and I have to get up at 7:30tomorrow, so, goodnight, or good morning as the case may be.
-Aaron

There are a lot more photos on the album to look at. I'm just posting a few here to keep the post a little smaller.

In front of the grand entrance
From China Day 13



This marble path is where the Emperor was carried along.
From China Day 13


Only the Emperor was allowed to walk on these dragon carvings.
From China Day 13


A turtle?
From China Day 13



One of the many thrones.
From China Day 13


Some one say "cheese!"
From China Day 13


The moat on the outside.
From China Day 13

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Chris, Aimay, Aaron, Katherine & Danny! What a FANTASTIC trip you are having with your family! Thanks for sharing your blog with us. It's fun to read about your experiences and see some of your pictures. (I can't access the pictures outside of the blog. I wonder if it's a Mac problem.)

Aaron, I'm very impressed with your blogging skills! How did you ever figure out all this technical computer stuff?!?! Movies, pictures, travel diaries, etc. Wow!

Another wow! What does it feel like to walk inside the Forbidden City? I just read the Last Empress & Empress Orchid and was fascinated by the lifestyle and customs of that time.

Carleton had to see the picture of you guys on the Great Wall to believe that you can really walk on the wall! Great pictures!

We'll be thinking about you daily and reading your updates as you post more entries. Take care & safe travels! Love to all, Julie, Robert & Carleton

Aaron said...

Hi Aunt Julie, Uncle Robert, and Carleton! It's great to here from you! In my last post (China - Day 15) I posted the direct link to the web albums. Hopefully, that will work.

The Forbidden City was amazing. It was just palace after palace. And in many places you could walk right where the emperor would have walked. It was a little hard on the feet though :)

Thanks for reading and commeting! We love to read what people write. Take care! Love Aaron, Katherine, Danny, Chris, and Aimay.

~LEMONDROPS said...

Loved the pictures. I don't really know anything about the Forbidden City - your post has sparked my interest.