"I don't want everyone touching me!"

Sept 12th - After a restless night for the kids, everyone slept until about 9am. When we finally got up, Amy and I spent most of the morning trying to get caught up on the blog. We had originally planned to hit the Forbidden City this morning, but since we were getting such a late start to the day, we decided to just go exploring the city, with no real plans. We first stopped off at "Hollywood" again for some good, quick Chinese food. We then walked to the Subway station. We had the hotel write out for us in Chinese that we wanted a weekly pass, but that still didn't work as the lady just shook her head and gave us 2 single tickets. Oh well. We headed into the Subway. The train was very new and was very easy to figure out as they had all the stops labeled in English. So after about 20 minutes, we arrived in Tian'an Men Square. We exited the Subway and after just a few steps, were able to see the Gate of Heavenly Peace with the famous portrait of Mao. We began walking away from the gate towards the center of Tian'an Men Square. After a few minutes, we realized something was going on as the streets were blocked off and the entire square was blocked off. It was odd to see the huge square completely empty. We walked the length of the square to try and get to the other side. We had read about a great teahouse and decided we would go there for an afternoon snack. After walking for about 30 minutes and navigating the closed streets, we finally found the teahouse, only to find it closed. We continued to think it was odd that everything seemed to be closed off. About this time, we noticed that the police were beginning to form a line and move everyone off the street we were on to another street. We followed the crowd and eventually sat down on a street curb along with a lot of other people. We had determined that there was going to be some kind of parade. This is when it is hard not to speak the language. We attempted to ask many around what was going on, but never found anyone to speak English. After about 20 minutes of sitting the police came and moved us further back down the street. At this point, we gave up that we were going to see anything. The real unfortunate part was the subway entrance we needed was about 100 meters on the other side of the police line. So we started walking away from Tian'an Men Square. There is a main street that runs due south from Tian'an Men that was also blocked off. We kept walking along a parallel street because we needed to get on the other side to get to a subway stop. As a side note, if you have any self image issues, China is the place to come. We were stared at from the minute we got off the subway line. Now, it is for the most part a very friendly stare. And for Abby and Austin, it is like being movie stars. People are constantly coming up to them and touching them, taking their picture and even picking them up and kissing them. Again, it is a very positive, friendly approach...but it is non-stop. After about 3 hours in the sun, walking and trying to get out off the blocked streets, Austin had enough. He finally looked up and said, "I don't want everyone touching me!". It was too funny! Unfortunately for him, it just goes with the territory. So, he would hide behind Amy and me and we would just smile and laugh. We finally got to a main street that was not blocked off, but then had another 20 minutes walk until we got to a metro stop. In hindsight, we should have found a taxi somewhere and got out, but we never thought we would be that blocked off from a subway stop. Also, somewhere along the way, we found two British guys, who explained they were practicing for the upcoming National Day on Oct. 1. I had heard that you did not want to be anywhere around on that day and I now understand why. Once we got back to the subway stop near our apartment, we decided to take the kids to Hard Rock for a reward for being such troopers today. It is only a few blocks from our apartment and is very nice. It was completely redone for the Olympics last year (as seems almost everything else). We found out there, that every Saturday and Sunday will be like today until Oct 1 because this year celebrates the 60th anniversary and they have big plans. So, note for the rest of our trip....stay away from the center of town on the weekends!