Temple of Heaven

On Wednesday we headed to Temple of Heaven. We didn't have a tour guide and we didn't do any research before-hand so we had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to see. We kind of just ended up wandering around and seeing the different buildings. I wish we would have stayed in the beautiful green part of the park for a while longer....next time I guess. We ventured down the "long corridor" and saw lots and lots of people playing cards - it looked like they were all playing the same game. We were entertained (and curious) by how fiercely they slam the cards down.....it was like slap jack!

And then......we stumbled upon the temple! Left to our own devices we just looked around I wandered away from the group and got lost for a few minutes. Not to worry, I found my way back :) I think this whole experience would have been much more interesting if we had a tour guide, so that's a definite must for next time.

Some more wandering brought us to the Echo Wall and the "Circular Mound".....very literal names here. I'm not entirely convinced that the echo wall works because I could hear people yelling all around so who knows if the sound was projected around the wall or just across the space. I remain skeptical.

The circular mound was oddly beautiful. It reminded me of a place where sacrifices might have taken place way back when.... 

 

 All of this wandering about had me hankering for some ice cream. At one of the many little shops we stopped at I grabbed myself a delicious dark chocolate magnum (no, that's not a joke - that's really a brand of ice cream bars). Upon seeing my frozen treat Chelsie said "Oh well if you're going to eat one I have to eat one too. I'll be too jealous." Hahahahaha this is why we get along so well - no guilt trips about dessert in this friendship.

Hey. Keep your eyeballs on your own eyescream.

Well, that's the Temple of Heaven adventure. Oh, except that we were spit out on the complete opposite side of the park so wee had no idea where the subway was. I went up to a nice little man who appeared to be a local and asked "Zinar ditie?" and he totally understood me! He pointed straight ahead, did a motion with his hands that we figured out meant bridge, then pointed left. It would seem as though he has dealt with many foreigners asking where the subway is because he used very few words and had the hand motions down. We followed his directions and not only did we find the subway, but we also found STREET FOOD! Since leaving Wuhan and its delicious food street, I have been missing street food immensely. This was a yummy yummy yummy little biscuit sandwich with potatoes stuffed inside. I was in Heaven.