Entrance to the Forbidden City. You still have to walk about half a mile to get to the ticket office to see the Halls.
Carving along the slope is one single piece of stone weighing over 250 tons.
Female lion has a baby cub under her paw.
Male lion has a ball under his paw.
All the roof edges are adorned with these little animals, the bottom-most is always a man riding a chicken/phoenix. The Hall of Supreme Harmoney has the most, 11 of them.
Today was Forbidden City day. What architectural wonders! I was most impressed by the 250-ton stone carving, the brass sculptures of phoenixes, lions, turtles, and the little animals (including a man riding a chicken/phoenix) that adorn the roofs edges. The palace was huge! It was another exhausting day to walk around the compound. Our feet screamed in angry protest. We decided to rent an audio guide to accompany our tour which explained many of the things we were looking at. Many buildings or halls had poor explanations plaques or were just too crowded to carefully read through them. The doors to each hall were heavy and thick; each door had 99 round pins representing "forever" and "longevity". Porticos in each hall made the buildings quite cool in the Beijing spring breezes. We were also able to recognize several spots where "The Last Emperor" was filmed. Disappointingly, the main hall, "Hall of Supreme Harmony", was scaffolded for renovations. Several other less significant buildings were under renovation.
Dinner was at the KungFu diner/fastfood joint in the Oriental Plaza. Images of Bruce Lee decorate the KungFu place. My meal was very tasty and homey.
Today was a great day! We will rest tomorrow and head to see the Olympic park and perhaps the Summer palace in the next few days.
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