1st Day in Beijing

We had the most amazing day ever and we have sore feet to prove it!!  We went downstairs for breakfast around 8 am where we were able to have the food we have missed so much!!  Fresh steamed buns, noodles & rice...YUM!!  The kids were even able to find bacon & waffles!  Next we met our guide "Alice" in the hotel lobby.  Alice is very delighful and she and Gracie have already bonded quite well!  We headed to Tiananmen Square via Subway first where we were given the opportunity to view the body of Chairman Mao who passed away in 1976.  Of course while in Tiananmen Square we were like rock stars and had to get our pictures taken with many Asian Tourists who had never seen a caucasion person.  The kids thought this was pretty cool as did the adults!  After Tiananmen Square we made our way thru the Forbidden City which is HUGE and Amazing!  After all of that walking we were hungry and Alice had arranged lunch for us at an authentic Chinese restaurant, which was very good!  My favorite dish at lunch was eggplant, belive it or not, I had never had eggplant until today!  After lunch we headed to "Old Beijing", where we were able to ride in rickshaws through the Hutong Area.  We also stopped got to go inside one of the homes in this area, which was very humbling.  (We really do take so much for granted!)  This was hopefully a good life lesson for our kids. We ended our day with a Chinese Acrobat show, which was pretty cool.  There was a Chinese Minority group sitting near us who were from Addie's province of Yunnan!  They were dressed up in their authentic minority clothing...pretty cool stuff.  Other exciting events of the day included Gracie using a squatty for the first time and it automatically flushed on her...OH MY!!  I will never understand the purpose of a squatty potty!!  We are missing our little Addie J, but we know she is getting loved on by her grandmas.  Here are some pictures from today.