Beijing

After visiting Shanghai for a couple of days we boarded the high speed train and headed for Beijing.  The train was great.  Kyle and I decided it was our new favorite way to travel with children.  Everyone is much more laid back, you can move around as much as you like and you don't have to worry about seat belts!  Actually flying in China is on a different level than flying in the states.  No less than 30 minutes before we START descending they require everyone to open window shades, put chairs in upright position and turn off all electronic devices.  Are you kidding me?  Three small children, one sleeping, one watching a movie and the third on the edge of a breakdown and you are going to require me to turn off the movie, wake up the sleeping child and get them all ready to get off your plane 30 minutes before we actually start the 20 minutes of decent?  Unreal.  So yeah, I prefer trains to planes in China.  However, in a country this large going by train everywhere can be a bit challenging unless you have lots of time.  They do have trains that go all over China, but only the large cities have high speed trains between them.  Kyle has friends at work who ride the train 72 hours to get home during the Chinese new year.  And they always take the hard sleepers.  They are cheap.  And crowded.  And hard.  You can travel even cheaper if you are willing to stand the whole time.  So there are different levels of train travel in China, however the high speed train was great, lots of room and super comfortable.  

 Shanghai Train Station

 Fountain at the hotel in Beijing, the girls loved playing in it.

 Beijing Hotel

It had a swimming pool, the girls were so excited to swim again.

 Tiananmen Square

 Forbidden City

 Tiananmen Square Monument.  This place is huge, far far bigger than the pictures show.  It is also still guarded by soldiers.  It was actually the first time since being in China that I have seen the soldiers.  It is still a forbidden topic here, the people do not want to talk about what happened and it is blocked from all internet searches.

 Huge screens next to the monument

 Government Buildings

 Two soldiers stand in glass boxes on either side of the Communist flag pole.  Then another soldier marches around the flag pole and the boxed soldiers, stopping every once in a while to make sure the soldiers in the box are positioned correctly.

 Chairman Mao's picture is still on the Forbidden City.  This was the home of the Emperor, it is the 'Chinese' castle.

 Secret police

 Gate Entrance.  The walls were insanely thick

 Another Gate.  The city is gate, courtyard, gate courtyard, gate courtyard over and over again, it is HUGE.

 This was under construction so we couldn't see inside but the main building in the middle of the picture is where the main throne was.

 Traditional Chinese clothing

 Snack break.  The kids weren't as fascinated with the palace as we were but they did pretty good.

 Small throne room.

Moat around the Forbidden City.  We just kind of wandered through but you can also take a guided tour or rent headphones that guide you through the City.  If we didn't have kids with us it would definitely have been worth taking a tour.  It is amazing how old this place is, it was opened in 1420 during the Ming Dynasty.