First day in China

​​I'm sitting in a little neighborhood restaurant in a hutong (alley) in Beijing. As far as I can tell, I'm the only one in the room who speaks English, and I'm having a great time. I ordered the fish stew because the picture looked good. Unfortunately, the menu gave no indication of size, and I think I got about four liters of soup. I could have invited the whole restaurant over to my table, but they already had food too.

I've had fun all day long, starting with taking the metro downtown from the airport. That was a lot easier than I feared.

My guide met me right away and took me to JingShan park to overlook the Forbidden City. Then we walked over to Beihai park, with the city's largest lake and a landmark white pagoda. I enjoyed the floral beauty of both parks, as well as the historical things they contain. (See photos!) Later, after eating too much for lunch, we enjoyed an amazing acrobatic show in the ChaoYang theatre. Finally, we came to TianAn'men Square to enjoy the flag lowering ceremory. It was a full day, almost entirely on foot, and I saw and learned a lot.

She's got more planned for tomorrow. Oh boy!