Well I woke up and we went to breakfast. Pretty good. I think I had more western food than Chinese. The group all met at 8:15am and we took the subway (all 21 of us) during rush hour. Awesome!! We were headed to Tian'anmen Square where the student revolt took place in 1989. The famous picture of the one man standing if front of the tank. I felt an overwhelming urge to cry. So much pain and confusion brought on by power hungry people. For more information on the protests click here. We then walked over the Imperial Palace or the Forbidden City. WOW!!! So beautiful and gigantic. It just kept going and going....must rent The Last Emperor. By the way, they are renovating the IMP to be ready for the Olympics in 2008. SOme of the building were repainted but somee not. There was scaffolding put up over several buildings for repair.

After the long walk...oh, by the way, the gardens were spectacular...we walked through another park where the crowds diminished greatly. Very peaceful and calm. We sat and listened to Tom. The verse he brought up was in Matthew when Jesus looked upon the crowds and had compassion for them. I think everyone was pretty emotional after that because we had all experienced a feeling of hopelessness because there are so many people in China looking for hope.

We then found a place to eat (all 21 of us). Chris was in heaven because he finally got a taste of real Chinese food. After that we took a taxi to the pearl market. LARGE store to bargin for anything!!!! It was great. I went a little nuts. I bought a few things of course. Went back to the hotel and checked my email. Got an email from Jason. :) Caught our hired bus to the acrobats. WOW!! It was amazing. Umbrella jugglers, yo-yo thing people, pole climbers...Probably the most artistic thing was one girl balancing onher hands with white organza like material draped over her. Beautiful. Pretty amazing!!! Good music. Very upbeat....almost techno!

Came back to the hotel and headed to get a quick bite but I spied a Fugi Film place and copied my pcis to CD. YAY! I couldn't find where the group ate so I went to KFC and then to a music store I passed on the way to the restaurant. I bought three CDs for $7. Awesome!! Came back to the hotel and bough another ring for Mom. Better than the other one from the market. Came upstairs and packed my souveniers and headed for bed. Tomorrow the great wall! 11:13pm

Looking at a map in the subway.



A group of Beijing police/army?



Count down to the Olympics 2008



Tian'anmen Square


The southern gate to the Imperial Palace
Mao Zedong pictured in the middle



Getting closer to the inside of the Imperial Palace



Puss No Boots made it.









Rennovated opulance.



Part of the gardens.



Angie and I with Puss No Boots
at the acrobat performance.



The Chinese Acrobats...they were awesome!