Today is a rest day at sea. The rest of our itinerary will be less hectic in pace and activities.
We enjoyed our breakfast and then wandered about the ship taking in some presentations and then went into the hot tub in the afternoon.
Lunch and dinner were leisurely and then we attended the 9 pm show.
During our meals we reflected on the two cities in China we visited.
Shanghai we visited on our own and with a private guide. The day tours were less rushed as the guide accommodated our requests for longer stays at a site or a change in a place to visit.
We had time on our own to explore and since we did not want to try a taxi to go to recommended places to see we saw what we could on foot.
The weather was ok but the air pollution was strong- see my Shanghai posts for the air quality index readings.
Fortunately most places we visited had at least one English speaker to help us. I used Google Translate the rest of the time.
Reading other travelers blogs on China influenced me to get a virtual private network so we could access our emails and Facebook and Google when in the hotels
Beijing we expected to have to have limited time at each site we visited and this worked out ok. We really did not need extra time at any of the sites except at the Great Wall.
Again the pollution was prevalent causing grey skies and overcast. Fortunately it did not bother our eyes or nose.
The trips to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven were better than we expected.
Tienanmen Square was huge. The Summer Palace was like being in the country although it is in Beijing.
I would recommend a visit to Beijing to see these sights preferably in small group tour or a private tour.
We enjoyed this excursion as we just had to get off the ship, get on a bus and go to Beijing. No flying on a long flight from the US to get here.
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