Being our first Golden Week, we did not know what to expect.  Since we are so new, we did not want to travel outside China like many of our colleagues. It was a great opportunity for visitors from MN and China.  A co-worker of mine from St. Paul is also teaching here in China, at a school in Hangzou which is about 5 hours away from Beijing on a bullet train. We did not plan to come to China together, just a random coincidence, but it has been great to know there’s fellow Minnesotans not too far away.  Alex and his family came on Monday evening, which gave the kids time to play and relax.  On Tuesday we planned to visit some of the tourist sites in Beijing; Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and the Pedestrian area for Snack Street.  Little did we know that everyone else in China had the same plan!
We started the journey by taking the metro in to the city.  The trains were packed and we realized the stop we would normally use was closed due to a parade.  We got out at the closest stop and started to walk to Forbidden City.  It seemed like a long walk, so we got on a bus only to realize the stop was again closed which forced us to walk anyway.  The area around Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden Palace was filled with more people than I’ve ever seen.  It took us a long time to walk a short distance due to the shear number of people.
Eventually, we were able to get inside the walls, find some places of relative quiet and see some fantastic sites.
Whenever we stopped to take a break or for the kids to have a snack, we were surrounded by Chinese people. The 2 blond boys and our 2 girls with their colored hair drew a lot of attention.  It was quite an experience and overall the kids did great with the attention.
We followed the Forbidden City with a walk around the area and the famous Snack Street where our friends bought and ate scorpions on a stick!   We were not as adventurous this time and opted for McDonalds.  The day was filled with a lot of walking in huge crowds with intense sights and sounds.  After the exhausting day, we had a quiet night and prepared for our trip to the Wall the following day.