Gorgeous

One of the best things about living in a big city is finding a place where you can go to get away from it all. It seems hard to imagine such a thing in Beijing, but thanks to a helpful tip from our teacher, we found an amazing street tucked away in the central area of Beijing that is absolutely ideal. It's called Nanluo Guxiang and it's close to the Bell Tower but removed from all the touristy things. The small street is lined with boutiques, coffee shops, cute bars, and a range of restaurants. It's a little pricey on the Chinese side, but for us Americans it was paradise. We did a little shopping, sipped some tea and did some reading, then grabbed hot pot for dinner. Since it was raining and we didn't want to head back to campus just yet, we stopped in to get pedicures and chatted with two French guys who were there getting massages. The street is also really cool because it's a good mix of trendy Beijing locals and foreigners... overall the most chill scene I have found here yet. I will definitely be returning (especially since I didn't take many pictures).

This morning we had a field trip for class. We met up with our professor at Jingshan Park, which we had previously whizzed through on the infamous Mystery Beijing exersize. Since the day was amazingly clear, we decided we had to take the opportunity and climb to the top of the hill to appreciate the view.

Trees! And a lake! And haphazardly placed buildings in the background! You probably can't tell bc the pic is so small, but there are even the faint outlines of mountains in the distance.

Anyway, then we went to the Forbidden City through the back door, which confused the people who worked there, but I explained, "We're going from hou to xian." Obviously. Um, let's see if I can find a good picture...
I wasn't in the mood to take the standard posing-by-the-gates/throne room/palace photos so I let everyone else take those and I will steal them once they are up on FB. After we concluded our tour we headed over to Grandma's Kitchen for some good old western diner type food. At the last second I decided on a cheeseburger instead of pancakes, but now I know where to go when the pancake craving really hits. Good food, not quite American but close enough, and too pricey but hey, it hit the spot.

Gotta run to the supermarket now for some orange drAnk, water bottles, random snacks, and pears. The pears here are so good! I am addicted.