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Once we made it inside the palace

We started our Beijing tours by taking the subway to the front entrance to tiananmen square. On the way of Beijing travel to the square we passed by Mao's Mausoleum, which was closed. A little background on the forbidden city in most Beijing tours: It received its name because it was off limits for 500 years. It is the largest and best-preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China, home to two dynasties of emperors, the Ming and the Qing, who didn't stray from this pleasure dome unless they absolutely had to. The various sights i saw that go from the south of the city to north are: the palace of heavenly purity, the hall of union, the hall of supreme harmony, the hall of middle harmony, the hall of preserving harmony, and the imperial garden is in the very back.

Once we made it inside the palace, which turned out harder than we imagined due to a variety of different ticket booths (the first ticket we bought sent us into some egyptian mummy museum...which was weird), the sight of the palace buildings seemed to go on forever. It is huge. Its amazing to believe that all of this is right in the heart of beijing. Also, more than a few other tourists, mostly local Chinese citizens, wanted pictures with me. at first i thought they all wanted me to take a picture for them but then they would just put their arm around me have their partner take pictures. I dont know who they think i am, but this is not the first time this has happened in china. The city is amazing. Look at the pictures.

Once we made it to the north entrance we decided to exit the city and cross the street to see Jingshan park. I almost recommend going here over the forbidden city. The 'mountain' was erected using the dirt dug up to build the moat around the forbidden city. At the top of this rather mystical mountain is a wonderful view of beijing and the forbidden city itself. you can see everything. The russet roofing of the forbidden city has never looked cooler than from this angle. Beijing travel service and tours to Beijing  offered mainly by local travel agent in beijing On the eastern side of the park a locust tree stands in the place where the last of the Ming emperors, Chongzhen, hung himself as rebels swarmed at the city walls.