The Forbidden City

As I discovered two weeks ago, I actually have very few pictures from China on this site.  And it’s about time to fix that!

Today I thought I’d actually show some pictures from when I decided to go wandering around Beijing and ended up in the Forbidden City!  Well, it was planned, I didn’t exactly stumble upon a giant complex in the middle of town with a large tomb placed in front of it and the swarms of people waiting to get inside.  Kind of hard to miss…

Anyway, I used the subways system to get there (no small feat when literally everything is in a language you don’t know).  My stop was Wudaoku (I can say that fairly well) and the picture from the station is the first one, right there in the upper left.  Good thing everything is also in latin characters, like in this map of the subway system they had in the cars.

 

We must have switched lines at some point, because Wudaoku isn’t up there on the picture, but “Qienmen” or Tienamen is, right at the bottom.  Oh, and the Forbidden City?  That red picture in the middle…

Anyway, I made it there, and here is photographic proof.

 

Yes, I was listening to music.  When you can’t understand what people are saying around you almost at all times, it’s nice to have a little English in the background…

I might have written about this before (not sure if I have…), but one tradition when you enter the Forbidden City is to rub the gold circles on the red door.  Not sure why they do this, but everyone was doing it.

 

And I think they were kind of having fun doing it.  If anyone knows why you do this, please let me know!

Inside the City was a whole different story: tiny rivers, huge buildings, and sculptures of lions and other animals everywhere!

 

I’m not entirely sure where these pictures were taken inside of the complex (and it is a very large complex), but you can guess based on my “map.”  Not quite a map, more like my audio guide.  Thank goodness it didn’t have only Chinese characters!  I would have not been happy…  Not only did it have English, but it was a picture of the whole area.  Well done Forbidden City!

 

And that’s about all I have.  Hope you liked my pictures from the Forbidden City!

From the Internet: Doctor a Day

Since this week I seem to be highlighting other blogs, I thought I’d give a shout-out to my new, temporary blog called Doctor A Day.  And if you read that thinking it would be about medical doctors, you’ll be sorely mistaken.  No, it’s actually about the rebooted British series Doctor Who!  In the lead up to the second half of the seventh season (or series seven, as the Brits say), I’ve decided to give each and every episode another look.

It worked out nicely since there are 90 episodes (including Christmas specials) and I started on January first, which was exactly 90 days from the beginning of April.  And rumor has it April is when the new episodes will air. If rumors are wrong and it’s starting up again in March, I’ll be screwed, but I’m willing to take that chance.

It’s mostly me rambling, giving a bit of a synopsis, and taking a bunch of screenshots.  Maybe even use some of my photoshopping skillz.  Who knows?

All I know for certain is that I’ve gotten each and every one done so far and two weeks into the new year I am still on track, so I’m keeping this resolution.

Anyway, if you’d like to take a gander, the site is Doctor A Day and my post today was about Tooth and Claw, the third episode in the second season focusing on the Doctor and Rose’s adventure with Queen Victoria.  So, come along with me as I rewatch each and every episode of the new Doctor Who!

Crafty Mondays: The Creationista

Today I’m not going to talk about something I made, even though I did make something over the weekend.  Instead, I’m going to talk about my friend over at The Creationista.  Because she does some awesome stuff and only recently have I been able to look through it all.  Well, most of it, anyway.  And while I might knit a bit and once recovered some chair seats, she recovered an entire glider recently (there’s a baby on the way) and makes so many awesome crafty things I can’t even keep count.  Recently she decided she didn’t like any of the mobiles she was finding for sale, so what did she do?  She made her own.  Also in there is a homemade headboard and numbers for outside her house.

Pretty cool, huh?  If you like her stuff (or are expecting and looking for some good ideas for crafts), head over to her website or facebook page.   Well, hopefully I’ll get back to one of my projects next week…