Hmmmm... Flying with a little one... Actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but let's say the creature comforts we all enjoy on airplanes (oh say... air conditioning) are a little wanting on domestic flights here... I don't think it is that complicated but I get that you can't just crack a window at 20000 feet (or thereabouts)... At any rate, we made it! :) Let me tell you if you are looking for a little attention on the plane, you should start heading down the isle with a cute little girl (to go change her, but that really didn't matter)... I felt like a rock star I had so many pictures taken... Swarmed by women (Well OK...older women who love babies and want to practice their English but whatever...) They were all touchin and talkin and pinchin (mostly to Sylvie, but I had the odd broken conversation)... Everyone had a blast. Sylvie faired pretty well, but was not all that enthused about being cooped up so long. Three and a bit hours later we were free!Our new guide Jennifer met us at the airport and we gathered all of our bags (everything showed up... also a bonus) and our driver proceeded to take us to our hotel (The Grand Mercure - Xidan Beijing - Used to be called the Marco Polo... I have not found the pool to test that theory... You know.... "Marco".... "Polo".... Too Much?? Bah! :) ) Tried to get everyone settled, which took some doing, but managed to get the lights out before midnight so I guess that's a plus.
What a lot of history there is here... Our guide is literally that - a guide... Had a WEALTH of information about every little thing we passed and how the city it structured ("rings" if you are interested... That will take a bit so I won't bore you with it...) Trying to fathom something that has been around for 600 or more years is something to get your head around... So is 18.1 million people (and change) here in the capital city... Isn't that like half the population of Canada (Damn social studies has failed me... Mind you it HAS been a while... :) )
That is the nutshell version of Day Six... We are off tomorrow to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City (spooky huh kids?) to see what the hubub is about... (I want to see if I can find a cool Chariman Mao watch, but hey, we will see what shakes out)... More to follow... Stay tuned...
Chowda!
C & J & S
(...say it Frenchie....) :)
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.. Forbidden City.. how cool! Sounds like Sylvie has become a part of your family already and settled in quite nicely. That is awesome! When do you fly back to the lively Okanagan? It's 32 here today :) But not sticky :)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, enjoy your days in Sylvie's homeland! (see if you can't find her a pretty jade bracelet for her memory box :)
Have fun exploring!
lively=lovely
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