July 30 Last day in Beijing

What I wish I had done in Beijing: Eaten at the night market. Taken the subway. Had a closer look at the venues for the Olympics. Beijing is immense. The city limits are 105 miles going from the north to the south. It's hard to figure out where you are going. We relied on cab drivers and little cards from our hotel with the addresses written on them in Mandarin.
We were always seeing sights through a haze of pollution. This was a sunny day in Tiananmen Square. Charlotte loved it here. Sometimes there are still protests here. I kept remembering 1989, but there are also happy families wandering around and kids flying kites. The hawkers were aggressive, and our guide, Sarah complimented me on how patient I was with them as I wave my hand, smiled, and shook my head -- never stopping my forward movement. That's why I have so few pictures from Tiananmen Square. The little girl in the garden at the Forbidden City who wanted to have her picture taken with the foreigners. We agreed in return for a picture with her and her mother. She practiced her English with me. It was a lot better than my Chinese! She was darling, but we encountered several unruly kids in China too. Maybe when there is only one kid allowed per family, parents become a little too lenient.
On our last day in Beijing, Charlotte and I went guideless and slept in. We went to the kite store in the hutong area and then back to the Temple of Heaven Park where we just walked quietly through the gardens and watched the people who watched us. The little neighborhoods and parks here are very appealing and a welcome respite from the enormity of the city
We had dinner on our last night with classmate, Maxi and her mom, Chris who had been at a conference on American poetry featuring Langston Hughes! Maxi got up and read a poem by Emily Dickenson at the closing session. They are off to another conference on American poetry in Japan! Apparently American poets are really big here. Who knew?
You know what the coolest thing about Beijing is? The retired people gather in the parks and little neighborhoods and do neat stuff together. The men play board games, and the women dance and twirl ribbons. They have little musical groups together, and they look happy and healthy. That's what I'd like to do when I retire.