Forbidden City

Of course we also found the time for a trip to the forbidden city. First we got on the wrong bus and took a bit of a detour but then we finally made it to the famous gate that is the entry to the enormous palace

A good opportunity for another selfie

The lines were not too long and the weather was perfect - much better than on the freezing grey December day when we were visiting the last time in 2005

There were huge spaces and smaller corner

We found someone to take a picture of us

The roofs tiles had an wonderful yellow color

A small museum in one of the gates

Flossing

In the center of the huge compound were the private buildings for the emperor and where he would meet with visitors in a pavillion

Mia took a little break behind the imperial sleeping quaterrs

Evening light

The imperial garden

In the evening we took the sleeper train back to Shanghai - this time it was a 14 hour trip. The foirst overnight train ride for Mia and a little adventure

Trip to Beijing

The distance from Shanghai to Beijing is 1300 km but with a high speed train one can get there in only 4.5 hours. So we though with the nice weather in fall it would be a good opportunity for Mia to go to the Chinese capitol and see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.

We arrived in  Beijing in the later afternoon and after dinner at a noodle restaurant....

..we got up early the next morning for a tour to the Great Wall.

The bis took us to a spot about 90 minutes north of the city were the wall is build along a mountain ridge. Luckily one go up by cable car

Time for some selfies

Mia liked climbing in the watch towers

 View of the rugged mountains to the north

Mia had brought along Mäxchen - one of her stuffed animals. Quite the trip for her

Back in Beijing we sampled the dumplings - which were not so good as in Shanghai -

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and were happy to find a szechuan restaurant after a long walk across the city

Trip to Shanghai

Because the weather is nice in Shanghai in the late fall and we got tickets with a good price we wet to China for 8 days when Mia had a fall break. We left right after school and arrived Saturday morning after 10 hours in a brand new Airbus A 350:

We stayed at the same serviced apartment at Xujiahui park we stayed at during pervious trips - it looks like the richt and famous like the area as well

 Mia's cousin and her grand parents dropped by of course

 ..and we had a nice dinner together

 In the evening the park is full of dancers