Vee had already paid when the guy ran off with the chair
Bronze statues in the down town area of Peking
The market awaits Chinese New Year
Feeling peckish?
Grasshopper!?
Cost effective transport
The Forbidden City was the imperial palace where 24 emperors lived during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is the world's largest palace complex with 9,999 buildings. It was where the emperor exercised his supreme power and where the royal family lived. Having been the imperial palace for some five centuries, the Forbidden City houses numerous treasures and curiosities (although mainly thrones!).
1st we visited the area in the bottom RHS
Most lakes were frozen over solid
The Sacrificial Hall
An idea of scale
The sacrificial Hall has a double roof
The Sacrificial Hall has steps leading to it!
As my brother pointed out having watched the Forbidden City video footage that I had taken, ‘it’s a bit boring, loads of pagodas and no people’ – the following set of photos may prove his point. Although the buildings are steeped in history and are pretty good eye candy.. You’ll be the judge! We chose a day that was so cold most of Pekings inhabitants stayed indoors to wash their dark hair and no tourist left their native county.. So I’ll do my best to publish pictures with people in them.
Stef a person visiting the Forbidden City
Vee visits the Forbidden City that cold day
Roof of the Sacrificial Hall
Bells of the Sacrificial Hall
Front entrance of the FC - the guards are shy
Stef, Carlo and Vee - hands frozen
a tourist risks the cold
Not the Sacrificial Hall
The FC
Click to read
The FC
Roof tops of the FC
We’ve seen some good films lately, Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais was entertaining, Zombieland is an instant classic, I don’t like Zombie films (whoops I just typed movies, got to watch that!) normally but this one is an excellent comedy! Vicki Cristina Barcelona was unusual (Woody Allen written and directed film) and worth a watch and we have plenty more in the cupboard.. Sorry getting back on track..
9 was considered a lucky number by the Emperors so each door had nine times nine rivets on it. And hence 9,999 buildings making up the FC. In fact there's probably nine of everything, maybe even the toilets are in rows of nine...
Yang Xing Zhai (Study of the cultivation of Nature) building
Stef
At night the creatures come out
The FC
Probably the best view of Tianamen Square
I got a soldier before he turned his back!
And that's it for the Forbidden City and day 2. Despite the cynicism above it was an amazing place and a couple of days there would do it more justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment