Beijing Architecture.

Bridge to island at the Emporers Summer Palace.

Glen and Lori at Summer Palace.

Summer Palace

Temple on the hill at Summer Palace.

Summer Palace

Replica of city street at the Summer Palace.

View of Beijing from Summer Palace. Annie's Dad said when he was a boy the view was only of fields. He needed a telescope to see buildings.

Summer Palace

Summer Palace. Architecture similar to Tibet.

Dragons on the roof at Summer Palace.

More dragons and guardians.

Us with Annie's at Summer Palace. We had the best tour guides in Beijing.

Building in Beijing.

Water Cube from Olympic Games.

Water Cube.

Water Cube.

Bird's Nest.

Chinese grafitti at Great Wall.

Annie's Mom, Iris (family friend) and Lori.

Monument at Great Wall. I can't remeber what Annie's Mom said this side of the rock said, but the other side is a saying from Chairman Mao that you are not a real man unless you climb the Great Wall.

Hitching posts and watering troughs.

Glen and Lori on Great Wall.

Glen on Great Wall. This section of wall was VERY steep.

The tower beyond the wall was where the guards would light the fires to warn that the Great Wall was under attack.

We were at the Great Wall early so there were very few people there compared to when we were leaving.

Stone floors at Great Wall.

Lori standing inside the arch of one of the watch towers on the wall.

Big billboard right next to great wall.

Buildings in Beijing.

Inside one of the round temples at Temple of Heaven.

Ceiling of inside Temple of Heaven.

Temple of Heaven. Made of wood, Built with no nails.

There were lots of people at the Temple.

Only the Emporer was allowed to have the bright blue tiles. There were several "layers" or gates to pass through.

Marble carvings leading up to the temple are like the ones at the Forbidden City.

We were told that the temples were built round to mimic the way Chinese believe heaven to be round and the Earth is thought to be square.

Inside one of the temples.

Blue tile dragon.

The marble walkway in the middle was used only by the Emporer and even then he was carried on a platform over it while his servents walked on either side. This section of bridge, I believe its called the Red Stairway Bridge, was actually used as a small runway at one time according to Iris, one of our excellent tour guides.