13
Location: Beijing
We saw the sky today, Ma! It was big and blue, and its infinite vastness almost swallowed me whole how strange it is to see the world above in something other than a monotone grey! The pollution level was very low today, which made for a very nice start to the day as we set off for Dewdrops. It’s gotten to a point where we can entertain the babies and handle them well enough that the nannies sometimes trust us to help feed them, which is very gratifying. We left a bit earlier than usual today so we could make lunch at the flat and take it to go, as we didn’t know how long the drive to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City would take once we took traffic into account. We drove for about an hour with the speakers blaring and eating our sandwiches and descended the bus at WangFuJing, a street known for selling exotic foods, both novelty, and gourmet. Olivia and Chris ate scorpions, still wriggling on the ends of their skewers; Chris spat his out, and Olivia just said they tasted crunchy. Colleen bought a box of Dragon’s Beard candy and three bowls of this jelly-yogurt-pudding (two bowls too many).
After WangFuJing, we walked to Tiananmen Square, and Colleen briefed us on its history. It was incredibly hot, and I was MELTING. Even the shade was too hot. We made our way to the Forbidden City afterward, and Colleen acted as our tour guide as we made our way through the city. It wasn’t very crowded today which was good because it would have been much hotter with all the body heat. For dinner, we ate inside even though Colleen wanted to have a picnic outside, but there were health concerns that took precedence. We then had our fourth forum to finish up the night.