Beijing Part 1 "The duck"

About a month ago we travelled to Beijing with Bri's cousin Brooke.  It was a nice three day weekend.  Just about the right amount of a time for a visit to the capital city.  We had time to visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, eat some Peking Duck and spend time at the Great Wall.  Here's some of the pictures from the first day of our trip.

We started the day on Tiananmen Square which is the largest public square in the world.  Its always fun to visit a place that is so historic.  It was freezing cold and windy that day but it was sunny.  We were so thankful for the blue skies as Beijing has notoriously "foggy" air.  At least that is how it was explained to us the second day by our tour guide.  Luckily when we entered the Forbidden City we were much more sheltered from the wind.  It wasn't near as cold thanks to the sun beaming down on us.

The Forbidden City was really neat.  It was hard to process a lot of the facts regarding its history.  They say over a million people helped build it.  It was held for nearly 500 years as the home of the emperor and center of the Chinese government.  I just couldn't get it through my head that the Forbidden city had been held as the capital for twice as long at our country has been established.  We spent a few hours hitting the highlights and wandering through one of the side sections where the emperor would keep his concubines.  The audio tour I purchased was informative and interesting to a history buff.

I'm wandering the narrow alleys between the hall of wisdom, hall of virtue, hall of honesty etc.  This is where the wives and concubines resided.  

One of the ceremonial halls of the emperor.  These were constantly threatened by fire due to the wood construction and fireworks and lantern festivals.

This is the massive public square inside the Forbidden City.  Here the emperor would great the military or host grand feasts.

The chinese tourists are known for their photographic extreme agility when it comes to capturing the perfect image.

After the Forbidden City it was time to warm up with some Peking Duck.  The famous fire roasted duck that is the most famous dish from Beijing.  We found ourselves a little hole in the wall with a good reputation.

Just a little hole in the wall place with a great reputation.

The cozy dining area in a covered courtyard.

The pit was wood fueled and the pole on the right was used to hang the ducks on hooks in the pit.  Then they'd move them around for even roasting.  Unfortunately we didn't catch them in action roasting any ducks.  They had just finished roasting ours when I took this picture.

The cook is carving our duck.

Brooke refused to leave without trying the restaurants second most famous dish.  The ducks feet in mustard sauce.  She tried one, I tried two, that was enough. 

Our feast, which was a package deal came with a whole duck and all sorts of sides.  Traditionally you eat the duck in the small "pancake/tortillas" wrapped with cucumber, green onion and a sauce.

That was our first day in Beijing.  The next day was the Great Wall.  More to follow.