Ahh, You Thought I'd Forgotten!

 Last year we toured the Forbidden City, which was about a mile away from our hotel.  Still, we took a car to the North gate and walked through the city to the south gate where we crossed under something like 8 (or was it 18?) lanes of traffic and went to Tiananmen Square.  I've posted several pictures of the Forbidden City, so here are some of the crossing and Tiananmen Square.

 Chairman Mao gets a new portrait every year, even though he's dead.

 Here are a few shots from underneath the road.

 Not too long after this shot we came upon a security check-point and had our bags X-rayed, while armed guards looked on.  Forgive this blurry shot, if memory serves, he was a friendly little guy.

 And let me just say, "JEEZZZZ! It was COLD!!!!"

 a snap shot of the apartments.

 Ah, evidence that the USA still exists!

 and AHH, sweet warm vehicle...well, that's all relative, since the vehicle could have been considerably warmer.  Still, it was a Chinese made "Red Star."

Wait until the 17th and you might see a few photos we haven't shown yet.  These all should be new, too.