Beijing - The Temple of Heaven & surrounding Park

The Temple of Heaven is inside a walled 267 hectare park with a gate at each compass point. We arrived in the morning to catch glimpses of the morning activities within the wonderful park - group exercises of various types, games, music, and plenty of people walking around the gardens. The park is a great place to hang out either being active or relaxing & people watching. The Temple originally was a vast stage for solemn rites performed by the Son of Heaven, who prayed for good harvests and sought divine clearance & atonement for the sins of the people. The halls are round and the bases are square to symbolize heaven and earth.

The twirling banner group.

The dancing group

Some of the musicians

Chinese checkers?

A paddle and ball game Joey played.

Video of a string-spinning-noise-making top toy

Joey in a tree in the park

John and I at the Temple of Heaven

Joey in another "chamber pot"

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests - every inch is decorated and brightly colored - the pillars support the ceiling without nails or cement.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

I find the colors and detailed woodwork fascinating.

Zhaoheng Gate (the southern gate) was the traditional approach to the temple.

The Temple of Heaven with the carved stone in the middle of the stairway.

Another gate.

Heavenly Center Stone: the uppermost terrace of the Circular Mound on the Round Altar is paved with 9 concentric rings of stone slabs; the slab in the middle is the Heavenly Center Stone; it is surrounded by 9 stones in the first ring, 18 in the second ring, up to 81 in the 9th ring symbolizing the 9 Heavens. Odd numbers possess heavenly significance and 9 is the highest single-digit odd number. Each terrace and set of stairs of the Circular Mound are composed in multiples of 9.

Some of the side buildings have sacred texts on turning wood blocks.

Imperial Vault of Heaven - contains tablets of the emperor's ancestors, employed during the winter solstice ceremonies.

Beijing - Olympic Village

The Olympic Village in Beijing was fun to see. John and the rest of the group saw it at night also just before the lights were turned off. I was back at the hotel overly tired and having back spasms which makes walking very painful. They took the subway and got a couple photos taken before it all went dark. The next day we all went and decided to pay to get into the Bird's Nest. We were rushed for time so we didn't go into the water cube.

The torch building and/or hotel

The water cube and Olympic Tower (blue with rings at top - it changes colors) at night.

The Olympic Tower during the day.

Ron and John with the cube behind them.

The cube up close

The Bird's Nest (National Stadium) at night.

Day view of the Bird's Nest.

Inside the Bird's Nest

John and I inside the Bird's Nest

Bird's Nest - the ceiling is interesting with the structure and the opening.

Tourists can pay to have their picture taken in Chinese Olympic jackets and holding a torch and flowers like a medal ceremony.

Joey being blonde haired and blue eyed usually becomes a tourist attraction with crowds gathering. The Chinese LOVE to take his picture and pose with him. By the end of his 3 years in China, he will be in millions of photo albums.

Beijing - Tiananmen Sq area & Forbidden City

After The Great Wall, we headed back to Beijing and the area of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Nearby is Zero Point - the beginning of China's highways.
This photo of Zero Point shows the center wheel with spokes representing the system of highways radiating from Beijing to all parts of China. The four directions have symbols of ancient Chinese mythical animals: Qinglong (Green Dragon), Baihu (White Tiger), Zhuque (Vermillion Bird) and Xuanwu (Black Tortoise).


John and I with the Front Gate (Qianmen Gate) which is at the southern end of Tiananmen Square. It used to be the central opening in the wall between the inner and outer cities. It was one of Beijing's 9 gates and the link between the north and south parts of the city.

Statues and guards outside of Mao Zedong Mausoleum.

Tiananmen Square, The Great Hall of the People (large building that is on the 100 Yuan bill), and the Monument to the People's Heroes (tower on the right).

In Tiananmen Square, you stand in the symbolic center of the Chinese universe.

The Forbidden City was off limits for 500 years (hence the name) and is the largest and best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China. Twenty-four emperors, 14 of the Ming Dynasty and 10 of the Qing Dynasty, called it home and rarely left the premises. The Forbidden City consists of many Halls with each having its own significance and purpose such as meeting dignitaries, certain ceremonies, lounge, banquets, etc. along the north-south axis. The western and eastern sides have living quarters, libraries, temples, theaters, and even a tennis court of the last emperor. At the northern end of the City is the Imperial Garden. The Forbidden City is a very large place and we saw just a fraction of it.

View of the Gate of Heavenly Peace that leads into the Forbidden City from the south.

The view from on the Meridian Gate looking south towards Duan Gate.

The Gate of Supreme Harmony

Not sure what this is but there were many around the City.

Brett and Leslie (and me -blocked from view) being smooshed in the crowd.

Joey in a "chamber pot"

Juniper tree that was intentionally split to form an inverted V, which is the Chinese character "ren" that means human being, and placed front of each of the four doors of Wanchun Ting Pavillion.

China - The Great Wall

In Beijing, John and I met up with his cousins Ron and Brett along with Joey (Ron's son) and Leslie (Brett's girlfriend). Brett & Leslie flew over to China and then took the overnight train with Ron and Joey to Beijing (they went First Class and had a private, 4-bunk "room"). They were picked up at the train station by our weekend driver, Michael, and taken to our hotel to check in and get John and me. We headed for the Great Wall. The most popular and closest access to the wall is 70km from Beijing (Badaling). Our driver took us 90km to a location that is less crowded (Mutianyu). We paid the admission plus a bit extra to take the cable car up and the sled down instead of the bazillion stairs to and from the wall.

Looking back from our cable car to see Joey & Ron ready to catch their lift.

Video of John on the way up to the Great Wall.

The view through one of the tower windows.

The Great Wall weaving its way along the hills.

The gang on the wall: me, John, Ron, Joey, Brett, and Leslie

Another view from a tower window catching a glimpse of the town/parking lot, ski lift, and a bit of the sled track.

Yep, we are Buckeyes and can spell our state name (Go OSU!).

The outer wall

Me on the Great Wall of China!!

Gargoyles on a tower roof.

The fastest way to get down from the wall is the luge sled on a metal track. Signs and people are posted along the way to encourage the tourists to go slowly and keep a safe distance between sleds. Not that it deterred anyone in our group...being yelled at in Chinese through a megaphone makes even less sense than regular Chinese, which most of us don't know. The only things slowing us down were the Chinese businessmen who had the poor luck of getting onto sleds in front of our group and going painfully slow. Who wants a bunch of Westerners yelling & laughing down a mountain and sliding at high speeds behind them??!

An aerial view of the sleds and track.

Me in my sled - the only control was a stick. Forward (almost to the floor) to go and Back for brake.

Leslie going around a curve.

Brett (in red) and John stuck behind the slow-pokes.