August 7th in the Forbidden City

Today is Gina's Birthday!

The performances are over, so now we are tourists.

After a late night last night, we staggered to breakfast. No surprises there. Then we boarded the buses. The hubs have different schedules, so it wasn't the commotion we had yesterday. Rather than open streets that were blocked to other traffic, we went into Beijing and hit bumper to bumper congestion.

Our delightful tour guide, Jessica, has been on the same bus with us all week. She taught us how to sing Happy Birthday to Gina in Mandarin.

Rachel was kind enough to delight us with further bus-ride entertainment.

We arrived at the Forbidden City.

The first stop was an opportunity to visit the "Happy Room".

We were delighted to find that this was a Star-Rated Toilet. It was indeed the cleanest Squatty Potty that I have encountered.

The Forbidden City was fascinating. We learned that the Emperor was carried over the intricate carvings on the center bridge. The Emperor's bridge has pillars that are carved with dragons. Two flanking bridges are plain.

The Gates are guarded by a pair of lions. For that matter, most buildings have a pair of lions at the door. The female lion is at the left, with a cub under her paw. The male lion stands on the right, with a ball under his paw.

While most gates are guarded by stone lions, these are golden. I think the female is almost as gorgeous as my dog, Cee Cee Bah.

Gina and Destie felt compelled to recognize the historic environment with their usual posture.

The Five Sisters posed.

And then they posed again.

This is a room I want to add to my house. In fact, I think we all should have a Hall of Mental Cultivations in our homes.

Spencer gets brownie points for offering to help me down from a wall. What a polite young man!

This is, indeed, a delightful group of teens.

The Forbidden City is steeped in history- hundreds of years of history.

Next, we walked back to our bus. Security is evident.

We had a short bus ride and then FREE TIME! LUNCH ON OUR OWN!

We enjoyed a Hot Pot- with lamb, beef and ... Jelly Fish. Yummy.

For desert, we visited a chain you might recognize.

We enjoyed the option of a Green Tea Blizzard, a Green Tea Almond Blizzard, or a Black Sesame Almond Blizzard.

After a successful day of shopping, we were taken to a restaurant with the entire group. Most of us were still stuffed from lunch. It was a shame to leave so much food behind.

Back to Epoch City for a good night's sleep.