Sunday November 15th
Oh my goodness did it get cold. Charles and Kevin from Rotary took us on a leisurely Sunday morning stroll around an area of Beijing known as they Legation Quarter. It was an easy, and very interesting walk starting with a visit to the Urban Planning Museum and getting an idea of the history of Beijing and how it came to be the Capital of China (silly really - because there is no water source in Beijing), then moving through the Legation Quarter which is an area that historically had many foreign offices and was under siege during the Boxer Rebellion, with most existing buildings being destroyed. However, it was windy, and cold, and it wasn't long before my face was so cold I could not feel my face, and I felt out-of-body as my mouth tried to form words but couldn't make any recognisable sounds. Fortunately, Charles took us to a wonderful brunch, much envied by other Rotarians and we were able to thaw out and enjoy each others company for an hour or two.
By this time Elke had gone to visit a vineyard outside of Beijing. Known as a "real" French Chateau right in China, Elke was able to see the tourist side of the winery and restaurant.
Meanwhile, back in Beijing, Lora, Matt and Des headed off in the cold again to do some more sight seeing, and battle taxi's that don't want to pick you up. Moral of the story is: take the subway.
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