Beijing sightseeing - Day 1

Saturday was our first full day in China and we were kept very busy to help stay awake! We woke up around 3:00, but were able to fall back asleep until about 6:00. We got ready and went down for breakfast, at 8:00 we were on our way for the day. First stop was at Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City - we spent several hours walking through these two sites and learned a lot of Chinese history from our guide, Sherry. It is hot and smoggy, but there was a nice breeze at some point of the day! 

After The Forbidden City we went to lunch at a local restaurant, complete with the infamous Peking Duck. I am still working on getting my appetite, but the food was pretty good.  The first stop of the afternoon was The Pearl Market followed by the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was beautiful - the weeping willows were so pretty and we got to see some dragon boats on the lake. After the Summer Palace we headed to the Silk Museum and got a lesson how they make silks in China. Next stop was the Olympic Village - just a stop to take pictures then we ate dinner in the village - they served us a interesting fish dish that we thought Matt would have loved to see! After dinner we chose to go to an Acrobatic Show - wow, they did some amazing stunts that were shocking to watch. We were exhausted when we finally got back to our room and crashed for the night - we are looking forward to Sunday and visiting the Great Wall, but just two more days until Gotcha Day!  Here are some pictures from today!