Summer In The City

• Today we headed into the city for the first time! We managed to successfully navigate the subway (it's very well marked in both Chinese and English) and make it to the all the destinations we had planned and then some.

We started off at The Beijing Flea Market which was held in a start-up incubator space. It was more of an artisan/local-made market then a flea market but it was still neat to see all the small businesses that people have started here in China. People were selling jams, peanut butter, handmade scarfs, and even reusable produce bags (the last of which we, of course, bought ♻ 😊)

• Our next stop was The Bookworm which a bookstore/cafe in the Sanluntin district of Beijing known for being a popular expat hang out. A group was running a voter registration sign up for Americans living abroad so we started the process of getting that paperwork started but unfortunately their printer ran out of ink so we still need to get our paperwork sent out. We also ran into another couple from BIBA and walked around the Sanluntin area with them until they had out.
• Then we headed to Tiananmen Square. We got there later then we expected so some of the sights were closed but we still got photos of the square and surrounding buildings. I also took a 360 panorama which you can see here (so you can feel like you were there with us 😉)

Forbidden City entrance in the background. We didn't go in because we need our passports but we will go on our next trip.

Carmel and us with Monument to the People's Heroes and Mausoleum of Mao Zedong in the background.

National Museum of China

The Zhengyang Gate which originally built in 1419 as part of Beijing's city wall.

• Carmel had already been to the square and she told us there was some hutongs just south of the us that we could explore. Hutongs are winding alleys of neighborhoods throughout the city. Some are filled with shops and restaurants and this one definitely was. Emily was adventurous and tried some meat on stick before we found a place to sit down and have some dinner. It was so pretty to see them lit up at night. It reminded us a little of Disneyland! We will definitely be taking visitors here!