Exploring Beijing

We had a leisurely morning and then headed out to do a little exploring. We are using public transportation while we are here, and I just want to say that the Beijing subway system is one of the easiest to use of almost anywhere we've been. All signs and announcements are in English, as well as Chinese, and the stations are clean and haven't been as crowded as I was expecting. Also, everyone insists that the kids sit when possible, so that has been nice. And, speaking of special treatment for the kids, the Chinese people have been awed by our large family and have been fawning all over our children, especially little Clay. He is like a celebrity! Everyone wants to have a selfie taken with him, which he allowed for a while but eventually got tired of and started just turning away when someone would approach him. He definitely prefers to have his picture made with statues rather than strangers! He has also received a special treat or two from vendors who just wanted to do something nice for him. Everyone loves him, which is, of course, no surprise to me.

Anyway, back to our adventures. We made our way down to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and Imperial Gardens, and eventually ended up at the famous Wangfujing Night Market (a.k.a Snack Street), where enthusiastic vendors tried to sell us everything from skewered tarantulas and scorpions to fresh fruit kabobs, and everything in between. We gawked and ate and had a blast! (If you're squeamish, you may want to pass on the pictures from the market that follow.)

Tiananmen Square

The Forbidden City

Statues, statues, statues!
(Even Max got in on the action when we found the transformer/robot statues.)

The Night Market
If you look closely, you will find seahorses, crabs, snails, a variety of bugs,
tarantulas, scorpions, centipedes, starfish, snakes, frogs, Peking duck, squid, and quail eggs,
among other more recognizable things, though, of course, I took more pictures of oddities.
Weston was the bravest among us, since he decided to try the squid. He did considered the
centipedes for a while, before ultimately deciding against it. Thank goodness.