Within the Forbidden City there is the Imperial Garden. I'm sure it is more beautiful in the spring then it was today, because all we saw today was rocks and bare trees. The rocks were in beautiful formations though. At one point we came upon people standing around a large barrier. I asked Tom what it was and he told me it is a pond that people throw money into for good luck. I nodded because we do this in America, but then I noticed what kind of money they were throwing in. The pond was full of paper money. Chinese currency does not include a lot of coins so the pictures below will show you all of the money in the pond.
Cherry Blossom was actually a celebrity herself. In Beijing we have not really had a lot of people stop us on the street, but when you are around tourists from other parts of China they are surprised to see two white people with a Chinese baby. One man stopped us as we were walking towards the Forbidden City and began pointing at Cherry Blossom and then me and speaking furtively Chinese. I looked at Tom at a loss and Tom said a few words to the man and we moved on. After we walked away I asked him what he said and he said the man wanted to know why I had a Chinese baby and I am not Chinese. Once we got into the gate we had young people stopping us and asking to take pictures of Cherry Blossom and us with them. This one group of 8 young adults just kept taking turns taking pictures of each other squatting down next to her stroller with us standing beside. I felt like we were surrounded by the paparazzi. All day we got the stares and comments towards us but Tom was good at fielding them off. After 400 families he has helped I am sure he has it down.
The smog or pollution was lot more evident today. There is no need for sunglasses because you cannot see the sun. You walk out and think it is just a cloudy day and then you realize its not cloudy it's all smog. You can see some of the smog in the pictures below. Not a lot of people wear masks so we choose not to, but definitely are using some nasal sprays when we get back to the hotel.
Our other experience today was a fancy restaurant known for their Peking Duck. Whenever you visit Beijing you have to eat Peking duck, it is a tradition. Since I am a picky person I was not excited about this tradition. I honestly have to say it wasn't that bad and I actually ate quite a bit of it. They bring the whole cooked duck out to your table and then they cut it up for you. They then demonstrate the various ways you can eat it. Again, thankfully we had Tom and he could translate what everything was. Apparently strawberries are a delicatessen and they were a "gift" to us at the beginning of the meal. I love strawberries but I had never seen them presented on dry ice before as though it was caviar. Cherry Blossom was not a fan of them, finally we found something she is not a fan of! She had fun though and it was a great experience for our family.
Cherry Blossom is doing really well attaching with us. For the past two days she has cried when we lay her down for a nap because she wants to play with us. She allows us to cuddle her and hold her while we try to get her to lay down. She is mimicking a few more English words but still does not talk much. We hear "mama" and "baba" a lot! Last night we went down to the pool with her so that she could try out her swimsuit. She was not a fan of the water at first but calmed down after we held her awhile. She is more than happy to just play here in the hotel room then go out anywhere. She did really like her stroller all day and people point at her because she is always smiling. We are still dreading the 13+ hour long flight home because she is so active, but hopefully she will sleep through a lot of it :)
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