The end of Day 2 in China:

We left The Temple of Heaven and went to a little tea house. We had our own tea ceremony and learned about and tried four different types of tea. Our favorites were Oolong with Ginseng Tea and another tea that was made from rose hip and dried fruits. They were FABULOUS!

The little cup on the left is the sniffing cup. The tea is first poured into it. Then, you place the shorter cup on top of it, holding it properly with you thumb and pointer finger, and turn it over quickly so the tea switches cups. You then sniff the sniffing cup to smell the aroma of the tea. You can also hold it in your hands to use as a hand warmer. No kidding! That's what the lady told us. Haha!

This is the proper way to hold the little teacup. Pinky out, ladies!

After the tea house, we went straight to the Red Theatre for a Kung Fu show. The boys were excited about it.

After seeing the show, we all agreed that we could have done without it. Oh well. You live and learn.

All in all, it was a really good day. 

Up Next: A little potty talk and the Great Wall of China!

Day 2, cont.: We left the Peking Duck restaurant and went to The Temple of Heaven. It was lovely. There were a lot of paths, gardens and people come here to play. Literally. They dance and play all sorts of different games. It was awesome!

These people are dancing.

Then we came across this couple. I asked Peter who they were. He said it was a couple in traditional dress posing for wedding pictures! I am such a nerd. I wanted pictures with them. I asked Peter to ask if we could have our picture made with them. They said YES!!!

We now have our picture with this lovely couple at The Temple of Heaven. They were so sweet and accommodating. Too bad the pollution was so heavy on this day.

The temple's roof is blue because that color is closest to Heaven. There is significance in all roof colors in China.

Have I mentioned the stairs in China? There are stairs EVERYWHERE! It's ok the first couple of days. It will start to get brutal...tomorrow.

Until then...

We went into The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. That's the round building you have seen in the pictures. There is a mini museum inside with the history of The Temple of Heaven.

This is an incense burner.

We left the building and came across a tour group.

On our way out, we saw a TON of people playing games.

These two pictures are two of my favorite of our entire trip.

I wasn't kidding about tons of people playing, was I? This doesn't include the people dancing, playing a sort of hacky sack, playing badmitten without a net, etc.

These ladies were exercising.

Peter said this was all an everyday thing. It was so cool!

Up Next: Our own private tea ceremony!