beiging day 2

The Beijing marathon continues. We did the city center today, the Forbiddin City, where the emperors used to live,(where Last Emperoror was filmed). It;s amazing the see and hear all the languages from around the globe, tour groups from around China, from Australia, France, Italy, Russia, Japan, US of course, and those are only the ones I recognized. Flags, umbrellas to indicate the group leaders, sometimes every member is wearing a red Nike hat, sometimes uniform t shirts, sort of like kindergarteners at the zoo! We followed a red Mickey Mouse umbrella all day. And of course I was the one that got lost!. I was just trying to get a picture of these amazing copper dragons in the window frame of the imperial dining hall, and take shots of the building to put it into perspective, and when I looked up, I didn't recognise anybody! Fortunatley, the plan had already been laid, call "Maria's" cell phone (walk up to any group leader, show the #, he/she will call and you will be rescued). It worked. All the group leaders are government employees, did I mention that earlier? Seems EVERYBODY is a gov't emp. china seems to be one huge public works project. I asked if we would be able to get a look at the stadium being prepared for the 2008 olympics, but that's off limits, under wraps, however you like to put it.
We wer sheparded past Tien an men square, waved at Mao's tomb from a distance, Her explanation for why we didn't walk Th"RU the square was that it was heavily policed due to the risk of a Falun Gong member attempting to torch himself on the square. I've read a little about Falun Gong, but my reading was a tract protesting the government's using them as "organ donors", or for medical experiments. So who knows what the truth is?
But after lunch, (finally! :) ), S"H"OPPING. Went to the government pearl store, and of course even the gov't employees there will haggle! Beautiful colors, settings, did get one dressy and one casual necklace, then she "threw in" a pendant, and some little things I'll probably use as X-mas tree ornaments.
Finally to the Herbal Health Center, where I guy in a white lab coat explained chinese herbal medicine, then a group of "professors" came in and offered each of us an opportunity to be diagnosed, using radial pulse and looking at the tongue.
I have bad kidneys (as do all the older members of the group) and that's the root of all my joint pain and swellling. Hey, who am I to question, this has been around thousands of years!
Finally supper, dim sum style again (breakfast was the only meal where we had the opportunity to get food without sodium, could there be a reason for all the kidney problems?) and dragging back to the hotel. wakeup call tomorrow, 6 am, and on the the GREAT WALL!!
I'll keep you posted!