Full day of sightseeing. Spent several hours at the Forbidden City, home to 24 emperors for over 400 years, ending in 1911. Mao welcomes Paul at the south entrance to the city -- it was here in October 1949 that he proclaimed the People's Republic of China. We could've spent much more time wandering around the palace, but no-can-do on a group tour. Instead, we spent 1/2 hour on the bus as our bus driver tried to talk a cop out of giving him a ticket. Apparently, our driver had picked us up in a no-load zone. The cop really let him have it, but after several cell phone calls by our driver and tour guide, no one got a ticket. Who knows what happened.
We decided to skip tonight's group meal for something much more appetizing: Peking Duck. The restaurant we went to is legendary in Beijing; they've been making Peking duck for, like, centuries. We went with the other NJ couple in our group and had a feast. Here's our duck getting carved up next to our table -- we want to hire this guy to come carve our turkey at Thanksgiving. He didn't leave a shred of meat on the bone. We even got a special card from the restaurant that gives the serial number for the duck we ate. Sort of like McDonald's--one billion served!
Tomorrow, we hike the Great Wall. And Monday, we meet the greatest challenge of them all: Parenthood!
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