China: Beijing - Forbidden City

The morning after arriving in Beijing, Elise and I meet up with Ben and his wife (who flew in the night before) to explore the Forbidden City and the surrounding area.  Of course, we visited Tiananmen Square.

We then moved on to the Forbidden City (which is right across the street).  

Although it was cool to think "Hey, I've seen this in a few movies and now I'm actually here!", I was overwhelmed by the amount of people.  So, I turned it into my own little contest of "Let's see how many nice pictures I can take without people in them"

oh no! there is a person in this one :(

Afterwords, Elise and I explored the area around our hostel.  It was an adorable little alley way full of the type of cute things I love - an Ali Alley!  Okay, yes, I'm a dork... but it was true!  Sadly, I didn't take pictures of it... While in Beijing I was becoming dazed from traveling so much and ready to head home!