China Day 1 - Beijing

We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel;  it was a traditional Chinese breakfast mixed with some french toast and hash browns. After breakfast, we met the 6 additional families who are with our group and will also have new additions by the end of the week :).  If I can remember correctly, 3 families are from Florida, 2 are from Oregon and 1 is from Pennsylvania.  After a short introduction in the lobby, we were off to a tour of Beijing.

Forbidden city and Tiananmen Square

It was a very smoggy day in Beijing, some of my pictures didn't really turn out because of the smog.

If Landry ever makes the comment, "nobody likes me" - we can remind him of this day in Tiananmen Square and show him this picture.    Everybody loved him! Because a person with blonde hair and blue eyes is not a common sight,  Landry got his picture taken everywhere we went.  It was so cute, people would come up to him and try to say "hello baby" in English and stand with him to get a picture.  He took it all very well, smiling, waving and saying hello.

Many people in China are off for the holiday, which made it very crowded.  

We also toured Old Beijing, rode in rickshaws and had a traditional lunch at someone's house.  The house was three buildings built around a small courtyard where they grew veggies and housed pigeons.

The streets were really narrow, but the rickshaws were a perfect ride to take in the sights.

Dinner was with our friend, Adam, who currently lives in Beijing.  It was so nice catching up and getting to spend time with him.

Below captures Landry's evening enjoying Peking duck!

 Here is our table of food

Thanks Adam! We enjoyed everything.