Friday

Yesterday was a busy day of touring. We had breakfast at the hotel and then met our guide in the lobby at 9am. We met up with three other families. One couple is from Trukee, CA, one from Houston, and one from Arkansas. We all loaded up on the bus and headed to the Forbidden City. When we arrived we were amazed at the castle like appearance. It had a huge mote (?sp) that surrounded the entire city. The city has two elaborate main gates, one is located at the north and the other at the south, which borders Tienanmen Square. We went through so many courtyards we lost count. These courtyards are huge. Way bigger than football fields. This city is filled with so much history. The Forbidden City was built in 1406, it took 14 years to build and over a million laborers. On the ground there are over 15layers of bricks to prevent people from killing the Emperor. There are 9999 rooms which we only saw a fraction of them. The number 9 has a significant meaning. The Emperor believed he was 2nd in line to God, and the number 9 was the highest single digit number. It represented strength and power. You would see it represented throughout the city. No other person was allowed to use that number. Below are some pictures.

Blogger is not letting me upload anymore pics. Come back later to hear about the rest of our day!