The Forbidden City

    On Sunday 9/27 (my second full day in Beijing), the group went to tour the Forbidden City! I had my first meeting with my language partner, who I will call TTQ here (his initials). He introduced himself to me as Nick, but we later changed his English name to Adrian after he realized there was another Nick in the group. 

Nick/Adrian/TTQ and I before the front gate (Can you spot Mao?)

    Nick was super friendly and insisted on buying me a souvenir. It was between a Cowboy hat and a Princess headdress-- of course, I went with Princess. Our group consisted of a lot of foreigners and the city was super crowded for the holiday (Mid-Autumn Festival). We were followed by a ring of Chinese people staring at us and taking photos. They were especially interested in the black girl in our group, but my blonde hair and my hat probably didn't help me blend in.

Me in my princess headdress- I'm fairly certain its made for children.

The Forbidden City was amazing and my language partner did a great job as my guide, despite the language barrier. It's a series of incredible building and huge courtyards. We never get to see this sort of history in America so it is a real treat. 

I think the coolest part is the vibrant colors that the buildings are painted with- you don't see that on european castles!

You could peak into the buildings, but you couldn't always get the best view of the inside.

The last part of the forbidden city is the garden. It includes a bunch of cool old cyprus trees and rocks sculpted into "grotesque" shapes (in the words of my audio guide). This is also something you don't see in Europe or America!

The whole tour was pretty amazing, and I had fun getting to know all the great people in my group! We managed to get some good selfies with our language partners. Thank you selfie sticks!