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On July 11th, we toured the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Nelson, Trish, Joslyn, Trent, Jason and Barb toured while Jim was at work.

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.
Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings and covers 720,000 m2 (7,800,000 sq ft).[1] The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture,[2] and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere.


Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the TiananmenGate (Gate of Heavenly Peace) located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world (440,000 m² - 880m by 500m or 109 acres - 960 by 550 yd). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.The year after Mao's death in 1976, a Mausoleum was built near the site of the former Gate of China, on the main north-south axis of the square. In connection with this project, the square was further increased in size to become fully rectangular and being able to accommodate 600,000 persons.[3]
Tiananmen square was also the site of the infamous Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 [1] where protesters were massacred by Chinese soldiers.
We walked this street next to the Forbidden City and found a great lunch spot.Looking at cute little dresses for Alison!I think they saw ice cream or popsicles being sold here, thus the excited look on their faces.The moat.Nelson hired our guide to take us through the high points.Inside the city walls it was just enormous.We all were remembering scenes from the film, "The Last Emperor!"  We were right there!Nelson asked LOTS of questions!