The Forbidden City in the Dongcheng district beckoned us in today and to say that it is massive would be an understatement. We were in there for 4 hours and still did not see every bit of it having been beaten by the severe cold. The buildings were really impressive just for their scale and they were surrounded by immense courtyards, and from what we could gather from our audio tour the place mainly catered for feasts, celebrations and entertaining important people. I think the 2 dynasties of emperors (Ming and Qing) did do the odd bit of business but only if they really had to! There were some fantastically decorated halls on display and there were just so many of them each having a very unique purpose. The audio tour was like having a mini history lesson and we learned all about Empress Cixi who sounded like a complete nightmare. After her husband died she bumped off her son and his wife so she could stay on as Empress and basically commanded lots of people to entertain her every day and ordered the wives of local VIP's to keep her company. If you didn't obey then it was highly likely you would not see your next birthday! The following day we moved to a new hostel called The Red Lantern which was a whole lot nicer than where we had been, more sociable and closer to transport links. It is in one of Beijing's Hutongs which are narrow alleyways crisscrossing the city where a large proportion of residents live. The hostel is in a traditional Chinese dwelling so all the rooms overlook a central courtyard and there is a little pond with a tiny bridge and a very friendly dog called Roger! After settling in we headed to Beihai Park which was just gorgeous and definitely the place to come to relax and escape the city. We found a very helpful Chinese man who was keen to get us some great photos, he demonstrated where to sit to get the best views of the surroundings and how to pose....the best thing is that he didn't even demand payment for this - he was just being nice to us foreigners; would you believe it! We walked around the huge lake which was completely frozen, dipping in and out of the buildings and small temples and veering off the path to get lost amongst the rockeries. The park is a favourite meeting spot for the elderly and it was cool to see them all hanging out together, practicing Tai Chi, painting Chinese letters on the paving slabs, even singing and dancing beneath the pagoda's. It must be really lovely in the summer but we embraced the winter weather by renting what can only be described as boxes. You sit on these and push yourself around the frozen lake with 2 metal sticks. We were like 2 kids racing around in laps, spinning wildly and inevitably falling off - not sure what the Chinese families made of us but we had a great time!