Beijing for boys I

The boys' first Beijing day was grand, too - grand in the classic manner. We went to that big square and that vast imperial palace, something to do with a forbidden city. It's still early Spring up here so we were treated to cherries, forsythia, blooming quince, lilacs, judastrees and magnolias. The weather was warm, the sun even sometimes piercing the haze (which you can see in the cupola of the not-very-high round pavilion in the Imperial Gardens, above). And amazingly one never tires of courtyards of glazed-brick halls, provided they're all, well, grand!