Now into day three I was getting a lay of the land. The metro system was simple to use; the city radiates out from the Forbidden City. There was the first ring road, the second ring road, the third ring road and then the center of the city disappears into the outskirts where there was the fourth ring road. All in all travel was easy here; I think even easier than Europe. Everyone knows by the look of you that you were not Chinese, so there was none of that first fumbling in Italian or French or German, it was straight to English or pointing. In addition, possibly due to the nature of communism or a dictatorship, no one seemed to bother me. The tourist areas were remarkably clean and there were police everywhere. I cannot say that makes for a great living environment and there were massive swings between rich and poor, but it does make for easy traveling.

In the morning I toured the Forbidden City. Not much to say about it other than it was massive. I guess there were a few things worth mentioning: The audio guide was a must have at only 40 CNY (about $7.00). Entry was about $10.00 and you could only enter the Forbidden City from the southern gate at Tiananmen square. This entry made sense because the Forbidden City was laid out with the giant public reception areas toward the south, and then as you walk north the buildings shrink until you reach the personal quarters and the emperor's gardens at the north end. One other thing worth mentioning: As I was inspecting one of the large brass cauldrons used to store water in case of a fire, a Chinese couple waved me over and showed me their camera. I thought they wanted me to take their picture but no, the wife wanted to have her picture taken with me. Apparently, it was quite popular to have photos with westerners intermingled with your vacation photos. I of course obliged, but insisted they do the same for me.