What day is it?

We have arrived safely in Beijing! Our trip went as smoothly as it could have possibly gone with all our flights on time and Larry waiting for us at the airport. We spent our first evening walking around some of the city close to where Larry lives. It was very interesting to see some of the more diverse areas. Katherine, I found a 7-11, but they don't sell slurpees. We had dinner at a local restaurant, dining on Beijing Duck and Spicy chicken. It was very good. Dinner for all four of us, plus beers for Wendy and Larry ran about $30, which Larry said was expensive because of the duck.

Friday morning we woke up early and went to Tian'anmen Square to watch them raise the flag, but we missed it by about 5 minutes. I think that I might try to get up early again tomorrow to watch. After that we took the subway to the Temple of Heaven. This is a beautiful park in the city that many local people go to exercise and basically just hang out. We got to play a game with some of the locals which was fun. Larry headed off to work and we finished wandering the park on our own.

After the Temple of Heaven we took the subway back to the Forbidden City. I had no idea how hung of an area this was. There are bunches and bunches of beautiful buildings to tour through. Towards the end there was a garden that you could relax in. While inside this area it was hard to believe that you are in the middle of a city with 14 million people. Actually, probably many more than that right now with the Olympics going on!

Leaving this area turned out to be a challenge because the police had several areas of the street blocked off, so we couldn't just walk back to our subway. We took a city bus past one blocked area, but then ran into another one. At that point we decided to take a cab back to the apartment. Thankfully Larry had given us instructions to tell the cab driver how to get us home!

Now we are back at the apartment, getting ready to have a snack, take a swim in the pool and prepare for an evening of opening ceremony events! Tomorrow is our first Olympic event! We are going to the boxing match at 1300.

Leave me a comment if you have any questions you want answered from here in the wonderful city of Beijing.