On May 20, 2026, we had a booked and busy day. First, some of my peers and I got breakfast at the hotel. There was an array of traditional Chinese food as well as American food. We then took a taxi to our first stop, the Forbidden City. Here Ally, our WorldStrides guide for Beijing, talked about the history of the Forbidden City. This palace is one of the largest preserved palaces in the world. One can see within the rooms of the palace and see what the rooms were being used for. There were also a lot of things the royals received such as pearls and other valuable items. The Forbidden City was the home of the Emperor of China and was seen as a political place or center of the Chinese government. The architecture of the palace was beautiful with the color red on the walls and trees surrounding it. Statues of dragons and lions surrounded the palace as well. There were also ponds with koi fish in them, which was my favorite part.
Once we finished the tour of the Forbidden City, we had lunch. For lunch, it was a similar situation as dinner our first night here. We had a family style lunch where we were served a diverse array of dishes to try. We had dishes with pork, chicken, lamb, and beef. There was also noodles and fried rice that accompanied it. For dessert, we were served watermelon. I will admit, the watermelon tastes better here. It is juicier and sweet. I will also say the longer I am here I believe my chopstick skills are improving!
After we were done with dinner we headed over to Summer Palace. Here Ally gave us a tour of the palace and also told us the history of it. This palace is different from the Forbidden City since there was a man made lake in the middle of it. Here my peers and I saw there were boats we could rent. We all decided we wanted to experience the boat ride and asked our professors if we could go on it as a group. They agreed to our request and we had a great time going on the boat ride.
When our time at the Summer Palace came to a close, we went back to the hotel to get some rest and eat some dinner. Overall, today was eventful and filled with historical landmarks. This blog entry was a bit delayed as the wifi connection here can be a bit unstable and there are certain sites blocked.
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