June 7th: Final Sights in Beijing

The last day of our Beijing tour was optional. Some of us opted to spend the day exploring Beijing on our own, or simply catching up on some much needed sleep at the hotel. The rest of us set off on a busy day of sightseeing.

First stop was the temple of Heaven. Beijing has four temples-one to the north, south, east, and west (the temples of earth, heaven, sun and moon). The temple of Heaven is said to be the most beautiful.




Next, we visited the new National Theatre. Finished only last year, the theatre is very impressive—a great dome built inside a pond, with water running over the glass ceiling of the lower floors.



Afterwards, we relaxed for a while at the famous Lao She Teahouse, where we listened to some traditional Chinese music.



We finished the day with a tour of the Hutong—the traditional neighborhoods and houses of Chinese. We were even invited into one of the households!




We celebrated our last evening in Beijing at a café in a popular area of the Hutong, before heading back to the hotel to pack!