Beijing Olympic Village, Hutong, and Temple of Heaven

The last few days in Beijing were fabulous! If you know me, you know I am a complete sucker for the Olympics...like out of control, crazy, emotional wreck kinda cuckoo girl! So, that being said, anytime I have a chance to visit an olympic park/village, I'm all over it! I loved seeing the water cube and the birds nest and imagining all the spectators and athletes that were there! We also had a chance to have a famous Beijing peking duck meal that night and saw a Chinese acrobat show, holy amazeballs!!!! The next day we visited The Hutong, an old historic neighborhood in Beijing, where a local family hosted us for traditional lunch. We learned tai chi in a lovely public park and socialized with the locals there. After our exercise in the park we headed to the gorgeous Temple of Heaven where we learned about the emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

 The Cube

Hangin with the mascots!

My cute baby brother 

Love this shot of Gma

The birds nest

Inside the water cube they were rehearsing for an awesome show!

The cube is fancy at night!

 Duck time!!! (I was so nervous!) 

My proud moment, first time EVER successfully using chopsticks! So proud!

 Beijing way of eating duck

 Where we saw the acrobat show, it was truly AMAZING! 

 On our way to the Hutong 

 Such a different culture!

 I love this picture, it shows a lot of differences but he is just like us, texting friends! 

 We loved the hand warmers on the bikes

The front of the house we ate at!  

The sweet lady who fed us!

 Rickshaw time!

Bryan being our guide

 Tai Chi is flippin hard

 Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this is so what China "looks like"??? I love it! 

The public parks are full of happy people playing, singing, dancing, and people watching! 

 They welcomed us tourists! 

 This was a serious game....

 ...and we got in on it! 

 One of the highlights of the trip!!!!!

 Temple of Heaven 

 These will forever be my favorite pictures

 So typical, Chinese men gambling 

 Groups of them everywhere!

So I joined in! Can you find me?!