After leaving Buenos Aires over travels went into over-drive.From Buenos Aires we flew to Mexico City to visit Christina's cousin and family.We had a wonderful time spending time with Molly, Javier and Sebastian - their curious, smart and very cute 2 year old boy.Molly gave us a tour of Mexico City's historic center and the Zocolo. The sacristy room of the Cathedral was especially breathtaking.Each wall of the room featured a wall mural that depicted a different Catholic mystery or biblical story.We also loved a fresco by Diego Rivera portraying the history of Mexico.And more than anything, we enjoyed the view of Molly, Javier and Sebastian's life in Mexico City!

After a whirlwind twenty-four hours in Mexico, we flew on to San Diego in order to attend the wedding of Todd's cousin, Katie.We were fortunate enough to attend the graduation ceremony of Nate (Katie's fiancé) from Navy SEAL training on the day before the wedding.The wedding itself was absolutely beautiful - filled with much joy and love.The opportunity to see Todd's family was, of course, a treat as always and Katie and Nate seem ideally suited for one another and very much in love.We felt so happy for them both.

Late Sunday night, after a full weekend of celebrating, we caught a red-eye flight to Beijing.Thanks to the wonders of Tylenol PM, Todd slept the entire 12-hour flight.While I was not quite as fortunate, we both arrived in Beijing excited for this next chapter in our adventures.Taylor, a good friend of mine from Seattle, lives in Beijing and he surpassed all expectations by meeting us at the airport at the ungodly hour of 5 am!He then took us to his apartment, where he had fixed up the extra room for our stay.We feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful situation here in Beijing.

Our first day, after a quick nap, we headed off to explore the Temple of Heaven.This park and complex of buildings is situated just south of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City and was the site of summer and winter solstice rituals held by the emperors during the Ming dynasty.The main structure in the park is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the entire structure (along with the many other buildings in the complex) was constructed without nails or cement.For a building that is 125 feet high and 98 feet in diameter, that is quite amazing!The buildings are also incredibly beautiful - with vibrant blue, red, and gold paintings covering all surfaces.We enjoyed the ride to the Temple on the subway, the experience walking through the Temple park, and returning home at the end of the day to head off to a wonderful duck dinner with Taylor!Prior to dinner, Taylor took us to buy bicycles as he assures us bikes are the best way to see the "real Beijing".After three days of peddling through the city, narrowly avoiding speeding buses and rickshaws (and thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the process), we believe he is quite correct in his advice.

On Wednesday we explored Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.The Square was breathtaking - both due to its size and to the huge numbers of people who were gathered in the Square.Many of the people were Chinese tourists who were visiting Mao Zedong's Mausoleum, which stands at one side of the Square. We were unable to enter the Mausoleum as it is only open to the public for a short time each morning and all cameras are not allowed, but we heard that Mao's pickled and preserved body is quite a sight to behold!In general, we have been surprised by the political temperature in Beijing thus far.There is enormous amounts of construction across the city, with sky-scrapers being erected every direction you look.Additionally, with the lead up to the Olympics, there is evidence everywhere of the many strides Beijing is taking to look its best when the world's eye turns its way.At the same time that there is a general air of economic activity and industriousness, there seems to be a surprising lack of political awareness.One of our guide-books put it especially well:

"The mood in today's Beijing is far removed from the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of spring 1989.With the lion's share of China's wealth in the hands of city dwellers, Beijing has embraced modernity without evolving politically.There's a conspicuous absence of protest in today's Beijing and you won't see subversive graffiti or wall posters…An astonishing degree of public political apathy exists, at least partially explained by in-built inclinations to bow to authority and a suppression of democratic instincts among the middle classes, who are doing so well out of the CCP's economic successes."

These words rang very true as we stood in Tiananmen Square, aware of the uproar taking place so near in Tibet and yet seeing nothing more notable than hoards of middle-class Chinese tourists, taking pictures before the enormous pictures of Mao that line the Square.

Anyway…after walking through the Square, we entered the Forbidden City, which quite surpassed our already large expectations.Although the largest building, the Hall of Supreme Harmony, was under-going extensive renovations in preparation for the Olympics, we were still able to walk through the City and see the majority of the buildings. The Forbidden City was home to 24 emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties and was inaccessible to the general public for 500 years, thus earning its name.The City is quite breathtaking.Not only is the entire complex enormous - almost 10,000 buildings in all - but it is surrounded by a 20 foot moat and a 32 foot wall.The City is separated into an Outer Court, where the emperor conducted business, and an Inner Court, where the emperor lived with his family, concubines, and eunuchs.The buildings themselves are painted brilliant colors, like the Temple of Heaven.Although the paint is peeling in places and the buildings obviously need the extensive repairs they are receiving before the Olympics, the entire feeling is one of magnificence and opulence.We could quite imagine an emperor living and walking throughout the City - in fact, we discussed with each other how the entire place feels, in some ways, like a ghost-town - empty now of the people that made it breathe, and yet carrying a certain aura of its past even now when it is filled with tourists and the flashing of cameras.The City felt similar in some ways to the castles we've seen in Europe and yet so vastly different in style and ambiance.All in all, we must have wandered through the City for close to four hours and returned to Taylor's apartment foot-sore and ready for naps!

That evening, Taylor introduced us to a bit more of "his" Beijing experience.We ate dinner with some of his friends and then went to a local Improv club where Taylor is a regular.With a wonderful mix of Chinese nationals and ex-pats from all over the world, the general feeling at the Improv was one of light-hearted fun and the bridging of cultures.Although we were both rather shy to participate at first, we soon got into the spirit of things and quite enjoyed ourselves.Since then, we have already spent another full day of exploring but in the interest of ending this posting, I think that I will leave the remainder of our Beijing stories for Todd's next posting (we are doing our best to take turns…) and allow you the pleasure of hearing his opinions as well.