Goodbye Beijing - April 7th

The Temple of Heaven, shopping, lunch, more shopping, Beijing memories, and then rejoining the ship in the port of Tianjin is the game plan for today.

The grounds of the Temple of Heaven, once restricted to the Emperor and his family, are now a public park where thousands come daily to exercise and enjoy the greenery. Especially popular are hundreds of Tai Chi groups that meet every morning:

The Temple of Heaven, just as the Hall of Supreme Harmony, is built on three layers of marble to elevate it to one of the highest points in Beijing:

Below is the inside of the Temple of Heaven, where the Emperor performed important ceremonies twice a year, on January 15th and on the Spring Solstice:

Then Cindy took us to another great place for lunch:

We drank more Yanjing beer and laughed and remembered our best times together on this trip:

Waiting together for pick-up to the high speed train station in Shanghai:

Arrival at Beijing Nan Station:

All together on the Wall:

Our best imitation of the Abbey Road album cover after a Peking duck dinner:

And of course 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Happy Hour in the Beijing Raffles concierge lounge: 

And that’s a wrap. At-Sea tomorrow and then Seoul on April 9th