Photo gallery from Saturday in Beijing

** Countdown to our adoption: Only three days left before we get Matthew. **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

BEIJING, China (Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008, 6:20 p.m.) – A busy day today took us to the Forbidden City, a tea house and a late lunch at a neighborhood Chinese restaurant.

I have posted a new photo slide show to the left, where you can click the photos for a expanded version. You also can view more photos at my Picassa Web site by clicking the slide show.

Here is a quick photo gallery you can see here and now:

Photo 1: Pam stands outside the entrance to the Forbidden City bundled to protect her from the sub-freezing cold. We are fast getting tired of having to bundle and layer clothing to go anywhere in town. The weather must warm soon. We hope it will be warmer in Zhengzhou and Guangzhou.

Photo 2: This is an interesting shot of classical Chinese architecture. Actually, everywhere you looked inside the Forbidden City you saw some incredible images. Absolutely beautiful.

Photo 3: I love this close-up of the detail found on the eaves of the buildings throughout the Forbidden City. Notice the animals on the edge. You have to see it to appreciate it.

Photo 4: These vast drums once held water that was used to extinguish dangerous fires that threatened the wood buildings throughout the Forbidden City.

Photo 5: As Pam will tell you any day, I am not particularly fond of taking photos. But I thought I needed some proof that I was actually here in Beijing and Pam was not doing this alone. And I,for once, think this isn't a half-bad picture of the two of us. By the way, I'm the bald-headed guy on the right. And we are both standing in front of some beautifully restored buildings in the background.

Photo 6: Here is an interesting photo of buildings framed by large rocks in the gardens at the rear of the Forbidden City. I just kind of like the framing of this shot.

Photo 7: Here is another view of the rear gardens.

Photo 8: After the tour, our guide took us to lunch at what she called the Old Beijing Restaurant. There, among a crowd of locals and with no tourists in sight, we dined on Kung Pow Chicken, Iron Beef, Pork and Rice and Beijing Noodles. This was the best food we have eaten since arriving. Pam is standing outside the restaurant.

Photo 9: As I said, I am not fond of taking pictures. But I also like this one of me and Pam in front of a tree in the back of the Forbidden City.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

Touring the Forbidden City in sub-freezing weather

** Countdown to our adoption: Only three days left before we get Matthew. **

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

BEIJING, China (Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008, 5:05 p.m.) – Water in the moat surrounding the Forbidden City froze solid as people strolled past in heavy coats, but Pam and I managed to tour the site on a cold Saturday morning anyway.

Despite temperatures well below freezing, the light wind and bright sun made it seem warmer than our first two days in Beijing. Simply put: This was a tour Pam and I weren’t going to miss.

This is history on a grand scale, the home of China’s rulers – including the country’s last emperor, Pu Yi, who began his brief reign in 1908 at age 3 ruling over an empire from behind the walls of the Forbidden City.

For those unfamiliar with the story, Pu Yi abdicated the throne in 1912 at the age of 7 but remained imprisoned in the 180-acre Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing until 1924 – all the while living a life of luxury.

The Chinese have done a lot restoring this historic landmark since we were last in Beijing in March 2006. Back then, workers toiled in the early spring heat restoring the classical Chinese architecture and stone-covered ground.

A lot of work remains to be done – some buildings are still decrepit and in need of repairs and paint. But, for the most part, this remains as breathtaking today as it did when we first visited in 2006.

It’s also an important part of the culture, background and identity of our two children, Camryn, 3, who is staying back in Madison, Miss., and Matthew, 1, whom we are adopting on this trip to China.

Personal tour

We joined hundreds of other people Saturday who toured the Forbidden City.

We were two of the lucky few: We had our own personal tour guide who filled Pam with detail after detail while I snapped photos and shot high definition video.

We learned about old Chinese traditions, symbols scattered throughout the site, practices of former emperors and, of course, all about the emperors’ large concubines. Here are a few of the more interesting tidbits:

Lion statues: Two lion statues guard the entrance to one of the Forbidden City’s important throne rooms. One was male and the other female, with the female placing her paw sit on top of a baby for whom she was caring.

Fire control: Large iron vats are found throughout the Forbidden City. Back in the early days of the site, the vats held water that was used to extinguish fires that threatened the all-wood buildings.

Unending rooms: The complex has 9,999 rooms, one short of the10,000 rooms in Heaven. Nine, by the way, is a lucky number for the Chinese. The complex was built in the early 1400s over a period of 14 years.

Emperors’ concubine: The concubine lived on the premises in a separate room apart from the empress. If the emperor wanted to spend time with his concubine, they were allowed a total of 40 minutes timed by a lighted incense stick.

If you really want to be awed by the Forbidden City and learn more about Pu Yi, I suggest you rush out next month and buy “The Last Emperor” on Blu-ray high definition DVD from the Criterion Collection. If you don’t own a Blu-ray player, the release of this disc gives you a reason to buy one.

Heavy crowds

If you didn’t know better, you would have thought Pam and I were visiting at the height of the tourist season.

We weren’t, actually. It’s just that the Forbidden City is probably the biggest – or certainly one of the biggest – tourist attractions in the Beijing area.

Despite the frigid weather, hundreds of tourists from the United States, Europe and across China toured the site on Saturday creating heavy congestion at every turn you made.

Good luck trying to get a view inside one of the many rooms where China’s emperors held court and took care of state business. You had to politely push and shove to get a good spot for a photo or to shoot some video.

Other rooms in the Forbidden City, including the living quarters of the emperor, the empress and the emperors’ concubine, were sealed from the public. The authentic, antique furnishings were visible through plate-glass windows.

And Chinese security stood guard all over the place, all at taut attention and dressed in warm, winter coats.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.