February 15th - Beijing Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Duck Dinner and David's 40th!

So many days behind on the blog now.   We are in Shanghai and leave for the states tomorrow.   This is the first time I have been on the internet since Beijing, not for lack of access, but lack of time (and expense of internet at our final hotel here in Shanghai).   We resume with February 15th - a most auspicious day!   David turned 40!  We had another active day and were driven to Tiananmen Square.  On the way there Indigo taught Maya Mei how to play rock, paper, scizzors which is one of Indigo's favorites right now.    We did the fair walk through the square to the entrance of the Forbidden City.  There were some delays going in as we needed restroom breaks and the restrooms were packed full - Laura Beth said there was so much pushing and shoving she could not believe it.   We made our way through the each of the courtyards of the Forbidden City - we were blessed with a glorious day.  I had Isaac in the stroller so a lot of the time I took the stroller route so was separated from my dad, Grandma, David and Indigo.  Poor David carried Indigo through much of the Forbidden City which is no easy feat.   Indigo seems to require a lot more carrying lately, hmmm.   I was walking with Laura Beth, Adam, Maya Mei and Eliana a lot of the time as they also had the stroller.  In a way it was nice as we saw some side corridor areas that apparently were for retired emporers - it would be wonderful to have a whole day without kids to explore more.   Apparently a lot of those areas now exhibit art and jade and other items.   Granddad rejoined us as we came close to our meeting point but we had no idea how far along David, Grandma and Indigo were.   Maya Mei, who had been really super, and was by now probably very tired from all the walking, got quite upset, which drew a Chinese crowd and so in order to reduce the level of attention, our guide took Laura Beth, Adam and their family back to the bus while we waited for our family.   One can only imagine how if we, as westerners were in a huge crowd and saw a Chinese or other ethnic family taking a caucasian child who was screaming, might think there was an abduction or something taking place so it's not unreasonable that a huge gathering of Chinese people happens when a caucasian family is trying to deal with an eight year old screaming child who cannot communicate with them in the same language, but it is still not pleasant and obviously hard for our friends who are dealing with this situation.  We cannot convey how wonderful of a job they are doing and we have seen the change in Maya Mei just over the few days we have been together with them in Beijing.   We were all very exhausted after the long trek and so proud of Grandma who made it all that way - we practically fell onto the bus.   We had a short rest, perhaps an hour at the hotel, I can't remember now and then met Doyle to go to Duck Dinner.    Fortunately, the place we were going was just a short walk from the hotel and so we walked over.  We had a wonderful private room and a superb dinner.  Our only complaint was that too much great food was served before the two platters of duck and so we were quite full already (a frequent occurrence on this trip) and not able to indulge in as much of the delicious duck, sauce, spring onions and pancakes as we might have liked.    Also, David and I are of the opinion that the duck place we go to near our house (renowned for its duck) is exceptionally good and definitely ranks up there with this duck place, which was better than any other duck we have had in China, this trip or our last.   Laura Beth gave the children red envelopes for Chinese New Year (LB - Indigo has since bought a Hai Baio - the Shanghai expo mascot with her money - it's the only thing she has wanted and is sleeping with it now as I type).   Of course, February 15th was David's 40th birthday and I was able to arrange for a cake which our guide brought to the restaurant and which was served there.  David was very happy as it was a chocolate cake (perhaps not traditional American chocolate cake) but no cake with fruit for him so he was ecstatic and of course it was a very memorable birthday to be in China with our two children, grandparents and friends.   Photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7322989@N05/sets/72157623354369493/