Beijing in the Fall

We are so thrilled that Lee's parents could come visit us last month! Dave and Ginna arrived the last week of September and stayed until the end of October. We really enjoyed having them here. We took a fantastic family trip and toured China for 9 days. First, we hit Beijing, touring the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs, the Temple of Heaven, Tiananman Square and the Forbidden City. Whew, what a trip! We were in Beijing for 3 days and two nights and we filled all of our time touring around and seeing the sights. The Great Wall was so fantastic, but so crowded. Here's a great display of just how crowded it was.

We had beautiful weather in Beijing with clear skies that we rarely enjoy in Shanghai. We ate lots of traditional Chinese meals, actually too many for our tastes. After a few not so great meals, we opted for McDonald's! The kids were thankful. One thing we love about China is that McDonald's soft serve ice cream cones are about $.35, so we always get ice cream when we go!

Here we are at a Chinese Dinner - which totally sucked, by the way!

We had a really tough time getting a good family picture on the Great Wall. There were so many people because we went during a national holiday. We knew it would be crowded, but it was our chance to go. We took a cable car up the mountain, which was a harrowing experience for me. I am fearless in many respects, but I HATE heights! Here's a view from inside our car as we are ascending the mountain.

Beijing was so great and there is so much to tell and so many pictures to show. We went to the Forbidden City, which was totally huge! If any of you have seen Disney's Mulan, the Forbidden City is in the scene with the Emperor, when Mulan comes to warn them that the Huns are still alive. It was really fun to stand there with the children and have them recognize where we were!

The Forbidden City

I loved these guards - having to be so serious!

I could show a million pictures of our trip, but I think I'll have to end here. We did so many fun things that it is hard to cover it all. I think I will do a few more separate postings on our Fall trip, so stayed tuned for more amazing travel reports from the Cannon Family in China!