beijing, day #2.

the forbidden city, now called the “palace museum” was probably one of our favorite china sites so far.  i think the great wall will trump it, but we’ll see. 

this is the white walkway that only the emperor could walk on:

how many beasts are on the roof dictates the rank of the building.  this one had eleven, and i think it was the highest-ranking building in the city. 

we got one audioguide and john relayed the information to me the entire tour:

these beasts are on either side of pretty much every big building in china and taiwan.  one lion has a ball under its foot, and the other one has a baby under its foot.  {i think it’s meant to be playful, but it looks like he’s crushing it!}

at night we went and saw the changing of the guard again, this time from the actual square {we were by the palace museum last night}.