The first thing we did today was visit the Forbidden City. It was an extremely hot day with a lot of walking, but it was still very enjoyable. The Forbidden City is the large area with the Imperial palace. Chinese emperors lived here during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Now, it is a very popular tourist destination with a few museums inside. Almost all of the buildings were red and had a gold roof, showing royalty. There were also many red doors with golden nails in a 9×9 pattern. Nine is a very lucky number in Chinese, and touching these nails are said to give the person good luck. It is also on all the doors because this palace was made for royalty. Also, many large doors had a big step. People must step over this step. Walking directly on the step will give the person bad luck.

Right under the roof of most buildings, there were beautiful and intricate designs of gold, green, blue and red. Some designs showed dragons, while others were simply pleasing to look at. It offered a great contrast to the red and gold buildings. This palace also had a very interesting draining system. On some of the ledges, there were dragon faces. There were holes at the mouth were the water could flow through and fall to the next ledge. I wish I could have seen it in action, but I am also still very happy that it did not rain.

We also saw a very beautiful garden at the very end of our trip to the Forbidden City. The garden was dense with greenery, had many beautiful small buildings, and had a lot of ponds filled with koi fish. Our stay at the forbidden city was truly unforgettable with the amount of beauty we saw.

Next, we traveled to the Hutong area of Beijing. We had a short tour that included riding on a rickshaw. We were also able to see a home in this area. The home was very beautiful, and the homeowner owned a lot of birds. He was very friendly and explained to us the history of himself and his home. He also had a Buddha, which showed the strong influence religion had in China. The home was very small, but also cozy. It was very different from the houses we know back in the United States, but it was an eye-opening experience.

Finally, we went to visit the Temple of Heaven. Here we had a short Tai Chi class. Initially, I was very worried because I did not know what the class would include. After we stated, I realized that it was very relaxing, and I truly enjoyed it. As we were walking, we also noticed very old trees. Some trees were hundreds of years old. The Temple of Heaven itself is a very beautiful place, with intricate designs both inside and outside. It is a circular building with a blue roof, in contrast to other temples and buildings. Here, people pray for good harvests.

Our trip to these three places was a truly amazing experience and I will remember this day forever. It showed the beauty of China and it`s history. Thank you for another amazing day, China!!