Mike came to pick us up to the hotel with the car and took us to the Temple of Heaven (天坛). It is a beautiful building where the emperor used to come every year to pray for good harvest. Looks like that was very important, specially at the time, because dad told me that many years ago it was not like it is today and you couldn't just go to the supermarket to get food... at the time people had to work hard in the fields and, if the weather was good... then everybody could eat a lot. That's why the emperor came here to the temple, to make sure that people would have things to eat.But that is not the only nice thing about the Temple of Heaven. The building is surrounded by a very nice park (Mike told us that the place is 3 times as big as the Forbidden city!) and I can tell you that it was a crowded place indeed ! People in China really spend a lot of time outdoors... practicing tai chi... dancing with abanicos.... doing ball room dances... and I also saw them playing something very cool... a group of people gets in a circle and they kick something from one to another. I didn't know what it was at first and then I saw that it was like a bunch of feathers with a weigth that made a real funny noice. Mom bought one of those for me so I think I am going to start playing as soon as I can walk !
Ah ! I haven't told you yet but Mike is a friend of Jerry, our tour guide in Hangzhou... and he is also very nice !
From there Mike took us to a very special place.... 1 hour away from Beijing we arrived to Mutianyu (慕田峪). And... what is special about Mutianyu? The Great Wall ! I had heard mom and dad talk about it for a couple of days already and, honestly, I did not understand what could be that nice about a wall ! and then... I saw it.Is not because I am a baby but you really feel very small when you are at the Great Wall..... it goes on and on veeeeeery faaaaar away... as if it was never going to stop. Up the mountains, down the hills and with many steep stairs. Can't tell you how happy I was that dad was carrying me all the way ! In the end, even I got tired of seeing so many stairs so, of course, I had to go for a nap :-) I really enjoyed the time at the Great Wall, specially when I woke up, and the sun was going down with an orange light.
As you can see we really enjoyed our time in Beijing and I am looking forward to come back again for another weekend. Well... maybe next time won't be that cold and I don't have to wear so many trillions of jumpers and scarves :-) And, if I am lucky, maybe oma and opa or el abuelo and la abuela are with us and I can show them around !
No comments:
Post a Comment