Second Day in China

Tiananmen Square. Where government officials meet:
The Bird's Nest:
Where Mr. Phelps swam:
Our room, nice and quiet:
In the lobby of our hotel:
We took a rickshaw ride through the historic Hutong area of Beijing (guy rides a bicycle and pulls you in this tiny two-person buggy). Area is 280 years old, but not all the buildings go back that far:
Detail from a beautiful building in the Forbidden City, where emperors used to reside. Now, there is still government operations going on in some of the buildings and troops living there, but many of the buildings, like the emperors' residence, are only on display for tourists. The forbidden city was finished in 1420:

Garden in the Forbidden City:
Door top in Hutong area...the displays above the doors show how rich the family is/was. This is a 4-star family. Before modern dating began, fams would arrange marriages and a 4-star fam would look for other 4-star fams for partners:
Forbidden City buildings:

Tiananmen Square with the Forbidden City in the background:
Hutong area:
In the Hutong area, people's homes are buildings connected around a rectangular-shaped outside courtyard. You might live in one section of the buildings while your brother's family lives in another section of it. Our guide took us to the house of one family who is currently living there. An elderly gentleman invited us in and made tea for all of us. We sat in what looked like his living room area while he talked to us about his family and showed us pictures of his family from the 1920s and on, living in the same hutong. Here is one of his dogs in the courtyard and a child from another adoptive family, Mariah:
Man who invited us in, explaining the hutong set-up and talking about his family:
One of our Chinese guides translates what he is saying to English. The windows look out into the courtyard:
Courtyard:
Bob with the rickshaw driver:
Hmmm, who are these people?
While riding in the rickshaw: