The Forbidden City--misc.

 There were so many little areas in the Forbidden City that it makes it virtually impossible to upkeep it all.  Here's what all those beautiful wall/ceilings would look like unpainted.  I wonder how long it takes to paint a square?

 VAST...

 Beautiful color contrasts...everywhere.  Would I put these colors in my house?  Nope, but still very pretty in its own way!

 Unused gate--love it!

This was the fire station.  Water was stored in these big copper vats.  Many of the buildings were built with a lot of wood.  With all that paint covering them, it's no wonder they burnt quickly.

The kids were so tired at this point that we started to walk back.  (I actually burst a blood vessel in my toe we walked so much.)  Beijing is an amazing city--go see it for yourself!

Treasure!

 Matt wanted to skip the treasure rooms, but I'm glad we paid extra to see it.  Here's a crown.  Poor girl must have had such a headache!

 Beautiful drinking vessel inlaid with gems and pearls.  (We were AMAZED at how dusty everything was--it all needed a serious cleaning!  Obviously the cases weren't air tight!)

 Loved the color of this piece.  It was pretty small, but still had some extremely intricate carving on it.

 This was a large piece.  The kids were getting very antsy, but we played I-spy by this piece for a while.  There was so much to see in the carving.

Here was a beautiful belt dripping with pearls and other gems.  If we ever come back I would love to go to the museum to see more "treasures!"  I recommend paying the extra 10 yuan to see all the fun artifacts--esp. if you don't have kids :)

The Forbidden City--Are We There Yet?

To get to the Forbidden City was an easy walk from our hotel.  This was my favorite of the four places we visited and I would have liked to explore it more!

What was funny to me is how many gates you had to go through to actually get in the Forbidden City.  Seriously would have been hard to get to the Emperor which I guess is the point!!  We'd see a massive gate and I'd think--this is it, but no. (And by this time I'm guessing we'd walked around 15 miles over the two days we'd been there--we were a little tired!) You know you're close when you see masses of people. (What was interesting to me is that there really weren't that many foreign tourists--it was mainly Chinese tourists!)  The last admission is at 4 pm and we arrived around 3--so there were lots of other people trying to buy their tickets before time ran out!

                                                  
 Even when you got in there were vast plazas to cross before you could even see anything.  Some of the stones were in a more original state (i.e. difficult to walk on), but they had made a path of smooth stones you could follow if you wished.  Many things were undergoing renovation--so that's why you see all the netting.

Just to give you some perspective, here's Matt and the kids standing outside the "main gate." B.I.G!!