We began our day by waking up at 10:00, 2 hours later than planned (because we spent all night looking for some food and came home empty handed because everything was closed), and missed out on the hotel breakfast. But we had no time to squander on eating, so we left straight for Tiananmen Square. We jumped on the subway, and after 5 interchanges and 2 miles of underground walking, we made it to the square. It is quite an impressive area of empty space.
After quickly taking in the Square, we ran to the City. However, we had to pass through 8 gates before we got into the true Forbidden City. These canny Chinese built the 500 year old city on top of 15 layers of monolithic stones, so that no tunnels could possibly be built to invade it. There are 9,999.5 rooms in the entire city, because the emperor who built it liked the number nine, but the Chinese believed that heaven had 10,000 rooms and no city on earth should surpass it. Why not build 9,999.9 rooms then?
We ravaged the City, and made haste to find some fine peking roast duck before heading to the wall. We walked about a mile to find the Quan Jude Restaurant, but unfortunately it was closed. We took the subway and made 3 interchanges and walked another mile to find a second Quan Jude Restaurant (this is the best peking duck in the city), but surprisingly enough, IT WAS ALSO CLOSED! They had just gone on rest the minute we arrived.
So, we made do with some simple beef stir-fry and set off through 3 more subway lines and a score or two kilometers of travel a-pie to the bus stop that would take us to the Great Wall. When we finally found the bus, they had stopped running for the day, and we were not ready to pay 400RMB for a taxi, so our plans for the Wall were stymied. However, we shall have vengeance tomorrow! We are going to wake up at 8:00 and sprint to the Wall and sprint back to do the rest of our itinerary.
With our spirits crushed, we limped toward the Olympic Green (they should have an Outward Bound--Beijing), and four railway transfers later we landed. We arrived just in time to see the Bird's Nest and the Cube illuminating. It is astonishing how much better the Olympic Green looks than the rest of the city.
But we still wanted our peking roasted duck! So we set forth determinedly to get it! This time the restaurant was open, and we got a number, but the wait was over an hour. In the meanwhile, we scrambled around the Square and the People's Hall in an attempt to find the National Center for the Performing Arts before we had to be back to eat our peking duck. We found it, and it was quite amazing. The way it was illuminated was pretty cool.
FINALLY, we returned to have a nice warm peking roasted duck. It was undoubtedly the best meal of the trip so far. We savored the nice duck and scurried back home to get some rest. Tomorrow we will dominate the rest of the city, and of course...the Wall. I will post pictures of what we have seen when I can.
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