Here is what I would have posted had I been able to...

November 5, 2009

Had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, then met a guide named Nancy for a tour of the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven. The trip to the summer palace took about half an hour, through a very crowded and foggy/smoggy city. We are amazed at how many people live in Beijing (approx. 17 million). The Summer Palace is where the Chinese Emperor and his family moved in the heat of the summer. Originally outside the city, the area is still an oasis of parkland and beauty in this city. The longest corridor in the world, over ½ mile long, was originally built so that the Emperor, or his concubines, could walk along the edge of the lake, sheltered from the elements. Every post and beam is individually hand-painted with images, including 999 separate images of cranes. We also saw beautiful statues, rocks, and buildings, and a 100-meter-long marble boat built by the last Empress of China.
We “enjoyed” lunch at a restaurant meant to replicate the Chinese Emperor’s palace. It was included in the tour, but the food was unremarkable, the plates were inexpensive plastic, and the décor seemed a bit overdone. Anyway, on to the Temple of Heaven.