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10.23.2011

Blustery Beijing

Wow did the weather take a turn! We woke up to lots of wind and rain but as we headed down to breakfast our attitudes changed immediately :) I told Jack that the hardest part of the post-China adjustment is not having a huge buffet prepared for you every morning!

We had a lazy morning (we needed that!) and then we headed out for the Beijing subway which too us to Tienanmen Square. Though he was born in Japan and lived his first few years in London Jack insisted that this was his first subway ride... not so much :) We did not have tons of time so we talked to him a little bit about what happened in the square and then we went inside the walls of The Forbidden City. It was so crowded so we decided to walk along the outer walls and moat instead of going into the main areas of the palace. Jack took tons of pictures for his Chinese Architecture presentation that he will give his class when he gets back. He also had his picture taken by ALOT of curious Chinese people. It was his first brush with fame and I have to say that he was diggin it! After the picture taking he suddenly began to notice how many stares he was getting and I was really proud of him... instead of getting self-conscious about it he got really excited that he was different and he appreciated their curiosity in him.

We came in from the rain, packed up, and left for the airport. We had to take 2 taxi's which led to some tense moments since Jay and I were dropped off at different ends of the giant terminal and we had not set up a meeting place if we were separated. Poor Jack tripped and fell in the crowded terminal and twisted his ankle... he can't catch a break! Our guide is going to help us get him some magic spray to put on it that apparently fixes a twisted ankle right up. We'll see!

The flight was bumpy but we are here in Nanjing in our sweeet suite (love me some free rooms on hotel points!).  Just a few more hours now...