Weekend in Beijing: Forbidden City

On our last day in Beijing, we visited the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Both are located in the center of Beijing and luckily for us also within walking distance of our hotel. The Forbidden City was the imperial palace in China for over five centuries, from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty. Today it is a museum filled with relics from these dynasties. Just the sheer size of the Forbidden City is something to see. You could easily wander around for days.  We had a great time but the highlights of the trip for us were definitely the duck and the Great Wall.

We had a beautiful day to visit the museum but it was very hot. At one point we stopped at a stand and bought a bottle of water. We took some ice from the cooler and had to rub it on our necks and foreheads to cool down. 

During our visit we saw some really interesting artifacts. We found a hippopotamus with noodles on his back!

And cool places to stick our heads...

After the Forbidden City we grabbed some lunch and then made our way to the airport. Our visit took place right at the beginning of the Swine Flu scare so when we arrived back in Hong Kong we were masked!