The Temple of Heaven and other sights
Well, today was a jam-packed day, and as I sit here on the plane to Chongqing, I feel very lucky to have been able to see these parts of Beijing and look forward to being able to show them someday to our children.

We started off the day at the Temple of Heaven, a mammoth park with different pavilions and temples hundreds of years old. The park was just lovely, with grand courtyards abutting copses of cypress trees. The scale of the temples was so grand, and the designs so symmetrical and balanced that without knowing any history of the place, I immediately felt joyful and uplifted. But even better than the design was the chance to see so many local people enjoying the parks. We saw groups of all ages doing tai chi, dancing, playing hacky-sack or badminton, playing music in the pavilion, and doing water calligraphy on the courtyard squares. People truly enjoy each other's company here, and seem to have a lot of fun being together. It was one of the most special places I've ever been to of all the things I've been blessed to see. Oh yes, and Greg discovered heretofore untapped haggling skills in purchasing souvenirs; we may have created a monster.







Following the Temple of Heaven, we went to Tianenman Square and the Forbidden City. Our guide Zhou was actually present in Tianenman Square on June 4, 1989 and gave us his account of that day. He believes that changes have been made for the better since that time. The Forbidden City has 999 rooms, which were at one time occupied by the emperor and his concubines. Again, it was as much fun people-watching as seeing the architecture. There is a great deal of scaffolding and renovation going on right now, I would presume in preparation for the Olympics in 2008.



After the Forbidden City we went to a Silk Factory where we saw silkworms do their work. Oh yes, and bought outfits for Will and Liann.

After lunch we trekked to the airport and as I write this we are in the air heading for Chongqing. I have butterflies in my stomach thinking about meeting Liann tomorrow. It's hard to conceive (no pun intended) that such a huge life-changing event will happen so suddenly, without the benefit of the gentle transition of having gut-wrneching contractions every two minutes for a day. Say some prayers for us that Liann isn't too traumatized by the whole event.

And on that cliff-hanger of an ending, I'll sign off until tomorrow.

P.S. With our airline meal tonight, we had a Fuling pickle! A good omen, and tasty too.