We were up at 6 this morning after a night of tossing and turning.
Did not sleep well even if the bed was comfy. I woke up stuffy and with a
headache, no doubt from being overtired.
The breakfast was full of weird stuff, but everything tasted good. We ate some sort of pho or noodle soup for
breakfast. You choose what you want from the counter, give it to the cook and
she boils it then adds broth to it. She
then gives it to you and you add the spices, tiny fishes, soy, nori, chilli and
some very, very hot black gooey stuff. Yogurt is served with a straw but very
good. Coffee is a bit weak.
We meet the group at 9:30 in the lobby. The drive to the Temple of
heaven was nice. The lanes were separated by miles and miles of rose bushes in
bloom. Other roads had hedges while still others had trees that looked like
they might be weeping willows. I couldn't tell. I was really surprised by the
amount of green spaces. Outside of the temple there was a place where many come
to do exercises during the day. Some were dancing, some were on parallel bars,
others were on various equipment. Most
people there were of retirement age.
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Rollande warming up for the day's activities
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The temple was ok, and the lunch afterwards was not that great, a
bit greasy and warm at best. The temple represents the sky (round part) and the
earth (square part). The top is made of 150 ounces of pure gold.
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Temple of Heaven
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The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (1420)
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In the afternoon we visited Tiananmen square and then the
Forbidden city. The Forbidden city was simply amazing. It is huge. Very
different parts and in all of them I could have used more time but as it was,
we barely made it through before they closed. The bus dropped us off and we
walked to the other end. The guide said that it was about 3 miles. It was easy
walking apart from the fact that the floor is very uneven.
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Copper and Iron vats - filled with water to fight fires
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Supper was again just so-so and the food cold.
3 members of our group didn't get their luggage and one of the
ladies didn't feel good today. She thought it was something she ate at
breakfast. We had no problems.
The guide mentioned that if we wanted to leave tips they were
divided with many people. He mentioned it again in the evening. We were under
the impression that tips were included in the price of the pkg.
Tomorrow we have a 6:30 wake up call as we must be on the bus by
8.