Being in Beijing, we of course had to go to The Forbidden City. We went on a Sunday to purposefully see it and the next-door Tiannamen Square with lots of poeple about. Tiannamen Square was pretty impressive as a space in a big city, though it seems like it is at its best during parades of other governmental dick waving.
The Forbiddden City, however, is awesome in its scope. Our guide book said that it would take all day to explore and we both thought: "Yeah, yeah, so let's give it half a day or so."
It takes all day to explore well.
I can not explain how big that place is. We did the starndard entrance - straight down the middle - through dmoinately huge gate after gate, seeing thrones and other palacial offices. They were impressive, but the throngs blocked the thrones, making enjoyment a little hard as a swarm of Chinese tourists push around you to share a view of a big shiny chair that exponentially gets less important to you as time goes on.
The Forbiddden City, however, is awesome in its scope. Our guide book said that it would take all day to explore and we both thought: "Yeah, yeah, so let's give it half a day or so."
It takes all day to explore well.
I can not explain how big that place is. We did the starndard entrance - straight down the middle - through dmoinately huge gate after gate, seeing thrones and other palacial offices. They were impressive, but the throngs blocked the thrones, making enjoyment a little hard as a swarm of Chinese tourists push around you to share a view of a big shiny chair that exponentially gets less important to you as time goes on.
What I really loved about the main thuroughfare was the space. The wide open spaces that they built around these halls gave the place a feeling of power that so many other paalcial buildings try to do with huge structures. The space itself was intimidating, and one could see how any messenger with bad news to bear felt the trouble that he was going to be in once he arrived. It was really well designed and was wonderful to just walk around, imagining what both a normal and a ceremonial day used to be like there.