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Bicycle Tour Adventure #32: China Page 14
Day 14: Touring China by Bicycle;
Today, We visit Tiananmen Square,
The Forbidden City, a Special Magic/Acrobat Show,
Eat Peking Duck in Peking (Beijing), and then
Conduct our 5 Yuan ($1 US) Gift Exchange Challenge.
This is actually the South Entrance Gate to the Forbidden City
But one has to stand in Tiananmen Square to see the Gateway.
Interestingly, there is a East-West City Highway that runs between
Tiananmen Square and the South Entrance Gate to the Forbidden City.
Our Bicyle Group (Standing L-R): Inga, Jon, Glenda, Iris, Regina, Sharon, Linda, Reg, Terry,
Lynn, Dennis (hands outward), Sam, Mary, Gordon, Mark; (Kneeling L-R): Chrissy, Siobhán;
Picture by Vincent.
A Wonderful Observation and Personal Experience: When we stood around as a group, Chinese young people (ages 18-28) would pose for pictures along side of us and have their picture taken by a peer (like once every three minutes in Tiananmen Square). Jon and I caught on at about the same time and we started posing camera shots with our new Chinese acquaintances - All in the spirit of an International Brotherhood that seemed to permeate this very Tiananmen Square area. [Tiananmen actually means Gate of Heavenly Peace - The Square is named after the Gate]
A peek into the inner workings of the Forbidden City.
Special Evening Show in Beijing: Magic, Acrobats, Juggling, ++, and Motorcycles!
Excellent Dinner: Peking Duck in Old Peking (Beijing), and our Gift Exchange Challenge.
Day 14 Begins
Above Right: Everything is clean, neat, and orderly. The rain storm that we traveled through last night is giving us beautiful clear blue skies and almost zero air pollution - The weather is colder. [Regina and Gordon's backs]
From the Train Station we are to bus to our hotel, check-in, eat breakfast, and then walk about seven blocks to Tiananmen Square.
Above Right: Hotel Lobby (Reg, Vincent, and Linda). Notice the fish tank coffee table. The names of the two fish were 'Sue' and 'Chi' (arh arh).
Above Right: Salt and Pepper Shakers at our breakfast table.
Above Right: Crossing the street to Tiananmen Square. Security is pretty tight. I think that six or seven of China's main government administration/department headquarters are within four blocks of this spot.
Above Right: Wild and Crazy Western Cyclists.
Above Right: Parliament Building at Tiananmen Square.
Above Right: Dennis and Terry Struck at Tiananmen Square along with proud six foot tall Chinese acquaintance.
This is the First of Four Gates, called The Gate of Heavenly Peace (aka: Tiananmen), the actual palace area is after the forth gate in approximately 1500 Meters heading northward. This is the North End of Tiananmen Square and/or the South end of the Forbidden City; one must walk through an underground pedestrian passageway in order to get to the entrance gate and in order to avoid the busy highway.
Above Right: This is the Third Gate, the Meridian Gate (Wumen); there is a Moat around the Palace and the Moat is underground at the broad plaza between the camera and the gate (of this picture). This is the actual Palace Gate Entrance. We were actually held up for a dignitary and motorcade (we knew that the President of Hungary was in town on this day due to BBC World News).
Above Right: The Golden Stream; we are looking westward.
Above Right: Next to the Bridge and Golden Stream; Vincent gives us a map briefing describing the layout and Vincent tells us a lot of the history. If I understand the history correctly, the original capital/palace was moved in the early 1400s and burned down and then a subsequent royal moved the capital back here and rebuilt the palace as we know it today.
Above Right: A close up of the two central entry ramps at The Gate of Supreme Harmony.
Some Architecture Details at The Gate of Supreme Harmony
This is the Last Gate!
Above Right: The Hall of Supreme Harmony. As I understand it, different rulers would move the throne around the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Complete Harmony, or the Hall of Preserving Harmony (three halls in a row, listed from south to north and all three of the halls are on top of the step plateau - no steps to go from one hall to another hall, the inner court so to speak). Most rulers used the Hall of Supreme Harmony for entertaining larger groups of people (banquets, dinners, or big group meetings).
Above Right: Hall of Preserving Harmony where the formal throne sat most of the time and where the throne is presently located.
Above Right: Throne in the Hall of Preserving Harmony (sorry the lighting was not favorable for a good picture).
Above Right: Sign explaining the alley that our hotel is located is an internationally famous roadway that hosted many Embassies. Tomorrow night, we will dine in the former French Embassy Post Office Building.
Above Right: Hotel Artwork (USA, UK, Australia, or China ? - could be anywhere).
Ray Funk (of Northern Italy) emailed me to let me know that this is a Vincent van Gogh painting. The painting, oil on canvas, is titled 'Harvest at La Cra, with Montmajour in the Background'; it was created in Arles, France (Southern Provence), in June, 1888 and the original is in the Van Gogh Museum located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. There is another van Gogh painting called [just/only] 'Harvest', and it was also painted in Arles, France).
Above Right: Something was lost in translation - 'Baby On Road'.
BTW, That Chinese Character on the far left of the license plate represents 'Beijing' (it actualy means Capital).
Above Right: The main course is way gone, this is a Fruit and Vegetable Plate.
Above Right: This is the after image.
