Sightseeing in Beijing

We woke up pretty early local time and were still trying to adjust to the 15 hour time difference. After a refreshing shower and an excellent breakfast buffet at the hotel, we met with the other families adopting children with CHI. The group was very friendly and Quinn quickly became friends with one of the other family's two sons; Jared 9 and Trent 11. They kept each other entertained the rest of the day.
Speaking of which, we spent the majority of Friday sightseeing in Beijing with the rest of the travel group. We had a local CHI guide, Cindy, who did a great job giving us the history of Beijing and the surrounding area.
We started out by going to the Temple of Heaven, a 600 year old Taoist temple complex built and used by Chinese emperors to pray for a good harvest. It is a very large parklike area with amazing architecture and sycamore trees.
Next, we had lunch at a local ethnic (one of many Chinese ethnicities, but I cannot recall which) restaurant that also featured live entertainment. The food was varied and all very good. After lunch we visited the old part of Beijing with narrow alleys called hutouns and traditional quadrangle houses. We had a very fun rickshaw ride through the alleys where pedestrians, bicyclists, scooters and cars are all sharing the same small road space.
To finish out the day, we saw the Beijing Chaotang Theater Acrobats perform. The show was amazing and words would not do it justice. The closest description would be like a Cirque du Soleil with live parrots flying around inside the theater.
We went back to the hotel after the acrobatic show very tired and worn out from a great day. Too tired to go out for dinner, we ordered room service and Quinn passes out on the bed five minutes after eating.
More sightseeing tomorrow...