China Trip Day 17: Beijing back to Chicago!!

I forgot to mention earlier 2 attractions in Beijing I know I missed mentioning as I don't remember what days we went.  We went to a neighborhood called Hutong and all sat in pedicabs and were driven around a small neighborhood. Another thing I missed was the History of Kung Fu show. It was a live show that luckily had English subtitles on the top of the stage.  Maddie was pretty darn good sitting through the show but we had to leave during the last 10 minutes as she started to get antsy.

And finally we are on our way back to Chicago!!

After a very early morning wake up we got into a van and headed to the Beijing Airport! We had a long wait ahead of us as they dropped us off about 3 hours before our flight was to take off.  Pau Pau came with us but we had to part ways early as she was taking off from a different terminal.

Luckily the terminal we were waiting at had an indoor childrens playground!!!  Maddie lit up when she saw it and we took her shows off and let her run around.  We realized that while she got to do many things she normally doesn't do (sit on buses/cars/trains/walk and run around/sightsee) she really didn't get a chance to PLAY like she normally does!!!  Poor thing.  Joseph and Grandma Kathy went to get food while I watched Maddie run around and play and touch everything!  She had a blast!

We finally boarded the plane but this time the flight was booked solid so no chance of spreading out. The flight back to Chicago was pretty uncomfortable as it took a really long time to get Maddie settled and sleeping, and it was hard for either of us to get comfy too!  But we finally landed, got a little McDonald's snack to tide us over on the ride home, and waited for Uncle Jeff to pick us up.

We got home and it was a struggle to stay up to 7pm!! We got Mexican food for dinner, I put Maddie to bed and went to bed about 8pm.

We are glad to be home!!!!

China Trip Day 16: Beijing

Today was our last day in Beijing! As much as we enjoyed our trip, we were all anxiously waiting to go home!  And Pau Pau was ready to go back to Guangzhou and relax! She was spending 3 more weeks in China to travel on her own.

We started off at the silk factory and we were finally prepared with Maddie. We set her up far away from everyone else with her headphones and Daniel Tiger downloaded on the ipad and snacks!  She did really well during this shopping visit.

We then went to the Summer Palace which was really beautiful.  I believe we had 2 more shopping trips this day, and the last was at a jewelry shop that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.  Maddie had fallen asleep on the bus so Joseph stayed with her. When she had woken up, he tried to find us but we were nowhere to be found!  I snuck away during a short break in the presentation and found them outside. When we all went inside to look for them, we couldn't find anyone! Turns out they were upstairs. Long story short, it ended up being the longest shopping trip by far as we were waiting for just 1 couple to finish up. We all complained and finally left for a much needed dinner!

That evening was the Peking Duck dinner!  We were underwhelmed by the dish but luckily had had a delicious Peking Duck while in Hong Kong.  We then drove over to the Olympic Village and were able to see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube from the outside from a pedestrian bridge. We tried to get a closer look but could not get too close before we had to catch the tour bus again. After we made our way back to the bus, all of the lights turned off!  Looks like we made it in the nick of time!

We headed back to the hotel and packed up all our luggage, gearing up for a full day of travel the next day.

Starting the day off with silly selfies on the tour bus.

Maddie's entertainment set up while the rest of us had to buy silk.

Summer Palace

Vickie and Nancy at the Summer Palace

I had to take this picture, it's of 2 old ladies who were taking pictures of themselves in front of a picture of trees.
But there were real life beautiful trees all around us!!!

Olympic Tower

Water Cube

Water Cube

Water Cube on the left and the Bird's Nest on the right

China Trip Day 15: Beijing

On Day 2 of our Beijing Trip, I'm sure we went to some sort of shopping stop but I don't remember.  There was a ton of walking around today. We made our way to Tiananmen Square.  Joseph bought a communist hat from a street vendor and everyone loved taking pictures in it.  He even got stopped by someone wanting to take a picture with him but he had to turn them down because our tour was on the go and we would have left without him!

We then walked over to the Forbidden City and it was incredibly crowded.  Tons of people everywhere and everyone was on the move!  We did not really have a lot of time at any of the buildings to look around as we only got maybe 10-15 minutes at each location, and it took us just that long to walk from point to point!  Poor Maddie was confined to the stroller as there was no way we could let her out!

After the Forbidden City we took the bus over the the Temple of Heaven.  Maddie finally got a chance to stretch her feet and walk and run around!!

Tiananmen Square

Communist Joseph

Forbidden City

Forbidden City

I *think* this was the bedroom where the Emperor slept on his wedding night (see the bed on the left)
We could only see it through the windows 

Beautiful silk bedding!

This is a picture of people sleeping at the exit of the Forbidden City.
I thought it was too funny and had to take it for some reason. Lots of people leaning against each other for support to sleep.
If you look closely you'll see a person with a map covering his face from the sun.

At a beautiful garden outside of the Forbidden City

Water surrounding the Forbidden City

Maddie striking a post while napping in the stroller

Temple of Heaven