We arrived in Beijing at a great time, by luck rather than planning. With the Olympics and Paralympics taking place the city looks at it’s best with clean streets, flowers everywhere, helpful English speaking staff, less traffic and far less pollution. Tiananmen Square looked spectacular with amazing floral displays and hundreds of fireworks set up for the closing ceremony. It was a far cry from the grey, political image we were presented with in the 1989 demonstrations.
Skirting around Mao’s mausoleum we headed for The Forbidden City which was as impressive as we had expected and seemed to go on forever. Although packed with tour groups you couldn’t help but be impressed by the architecture and colours of the place. The photo where Mark has his eyes closed is taken under a 300 year old tree that is two trees grafted together. It is supposed to bring a long and happy marriage to newlyweds… so far so good!
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3 comments so far
September 20th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Everywhere looks beautiful…lovely picture of you Helen with the flowers….is Mark doing his impression of the ‘Thinker’ on picture in front of temple……or is he still looking for the shuttlecock?? Did you get to see any of the paralympics or swim in the pool?
September 20th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Paralympics post coming shortly but all fully booked and pool not open to the public
September 21st, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Brill photos, as usual, all the entertainment in the park looks marvellous and great that you can take part in some of it but THAT WALL - wow - amazing as it looks I had to get my inhaler out just looking at the photos ………………..
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