15 July - Forbidden City & Wangfujin

After a very hot day the day before, this morning started off with drenching rain.  The hotel lent us their umbrellas and we set off to see the Forbidden City.  Having watched some movies set in the Forbidden City, we were excited to see the actual place!  Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the Forbidden City:

Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the centre of Beijing, China.  For almost 500 years, it served as the home ofemperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.  Built in 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 buildings (but we were told there were 999.5 rooms) and covers 720,000 m^2.

Although we all had umbrellas from the hotel, sometimes it's just better to have your hands free...

Inside, there were sections where the concubines lived, then we saw the section where the Empress Cixi lived, and the Emperor's throne room.  We guessed that the room of "accumulated elegance" was where the Empress and her ladies chilled.

 

Then it was time for more shopping at Wangfujin, where they sold some unknown food and the famous bingtanghulu toffee.  We all picked up a few pieces of things, as it was similar to Pitt St Mall.