Don't trust Fodors.

Day Two.

We got a lot accomplished on the second day. We took the metro for the first time since it was conveniently located just outside our hotel. We explored the Forbidden City, ate another local meal, walked through Tiananmen Square, saw (the outside of) Mao's Tomb and went to the main Beijing Olympics store.

Two highlights of the day-- our wonderful tour guide at the Forbidden City and our terrible attempt at finding our Fodors-recommended restaurant.

1. After Mom stood in line to get tickets into the Forbidden City (palace area for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties), we were approached by an older woman who offered to give a tour. "Forbidden City verrry large. I show you most important places. Give good information. Only 180RMB... two hours." Somehow we accepted her offer, so she hopped in line, bought her ticket and we were off! She may have been in her 60s, but as my mom liked to say, "She was sturdy!" Aka, we spent most of the time trying to keep up with her fast little legs. It was pretty easy to do because she had a lilac bonnet-thing on and was constantly waving her arms in the air to direct us to the next point of interest. She told us her name a couple of times, but none of us could remember or pronounce it. In writing, I'll just refer to her as Lu Lu. I think it fits.

Important things to note in the picture below:

• The building in the background is being renovated for the Olympics-- just like everything else in town. While they had already updated a few other portions of the Forbidden City, it looked like they had a lot of work to finish. George loved to comment on how Beijing wasn't going to be ready. We laughed about it, but he's probably right.
• Lu Lu's arm is in the air. Again, waving.
• I have a gold butterfly clip in my hair because I answered one of Lu Lu's trivia questions. In her bag, she carried these prizes and would reward us for answering questions about certain things on the grounds. When we got the questions right, she'd say "Yeeessssss, cleva girl!" I think she even managed to rub Jen's hair when she won a butterfly. Strange, but hilarious! Oh, Lu Lu.
• In the second one you can see George in the background behind Jen. He's still bummed because he hadn't answered a question correctly. Not to worry-- we all got butterflies. George wore his the entire day.
  

Meanwhile, while our little foursome was on a lovely tour with Lu Lu, there were large Asian tour groups all over the place! You could tell because they'd all wear matching colored hats and travel in packs around a tall flag.

I think these two were really enjoying their tour-- especially the one on the right. Nike, just remember that you'll need my permission before using these pictures in your next ad. Thanks.

Other pictures from our time at the Forbidden City and in Tiananmen Square:

Newly renovated detail work and painting. Interesting to note that the columns (and other fixtures) in the Forbidden City are solid wood, not stone. The biggest concern was the place catching fire.
More toilet humor. Four stars!
What's a vacation without a picture of some random flowers. These were in the palace gardens.
We love Mao-- at least in this picture. He's actually looking at the camera too.

2. The other memorable part of our day was the absolutely horrible time we had trying to get to the restaurant. The concierge said, "Oh! Everyone knows that place." Yeah right. I think we had some information written in Chinese, but not enough to get us where we needed to go. But before that, we had to get a cab. Four taxis pulled up to the hotel and four times we were turned down because the fare was going to be too low. Supposedly the restaurant was only a 15-minute walk (yeah right). When we got a cab (only upon flashing a 20RMB bill yelling "We'll pay you more!!"), we got stuck in traffic. It was so bad that our cab driver indicated we should get out mid-way, walk over a pedestrian bridge and we'd find it on the other side of the road. It should be noted that all of that was interpreted through inaccurate pointing and gestures. His directions couldn't have been more wrong. Turns out, our restaurant was located in a small alley tucked away behind the main street of bars and restaurants. We must have spent an hour trying to get there. After finding a bartender in another restaurant that spoke English, he called the restaurant and got good directions. Needless to say there were lots of "F* Fodors" and "Worst cab driver EVER!" and "Have the people from Fodors ever BEEN to China?!" comments before we actually found the place.

The good news was that the food was wonderful! I had appetizer of brie-filled spring rolls with a roasted pepper sauce and delicious lamb chops for dinner. For the first time, Jen and I got to join in on a wonderful bottle of wine. We left full and happy.

Lesson of the night: Don't trust Fodors and don't leave your hotel without a phone number and everything written in Chinese. Trust Lu Lu.