First day out and about.....

So, after spending our first week safely enclosed in our little expat enclave, we decided to venture out to the big city yesterday. We live about 30- 40 minutes out and we don't have a car yet. That means the city is either a long metro ride or taxi ride away. We also have 5 people in our family, which means 2 taxis (unless the driver is willing to take all of us). Taxis get spendy quick and the drivers tend to not speak much English. The metro is super cheap but I've been warned of long transfer times and huge crowds. After much deliberation, we chose the taxi route. And we tried to get downtown as early as possible since crowds get heavier as the day goes on. We chose to go to HouHai lake in the back lakes area where we could go ice chair skating and check out the hutongs. The hutongs are flat one story courtyard neighborhoods where the people of Beijing have lived for centuries. They are sadly disappearing in the wake of modern life. We have never seen a lake frozen over before so that was exciting in and of itself. We all loved ice chair skating because it involved no actual skill. Perfect for Texans who don't know how to ice skate. The kids only lasted a couple of go-rounds before deciding they were freezing. And Chris got knocked down by some type of ice car. The sky appeared to be the limit as to the clever contraptions you could use to peddle yourself about on the ice. There were bikes and chairs and cars. They also had a bounce house in the ice and a karaoke booth. All in all very festive.
After exiting the ice we headed to a Starbucks -- which had one of the best mochas I've ever had-- to regroup and figure out what is next. We decided to head to the 13th century Drum and Bell towers for a scenic view. We stopped at the Altar of the Fire God en route which was like entering a completely different realm from the carnival-like ice lake. When having a sandwich at the No Excuses cafe we were all surprised to be photographed by passing Chinese tourists as we sat in the glass window.
At this point we were all freezing cold and had had just about enough. We had promised Violet a cotton candy after lunch so we headed down a busy hutong alley in search of one. We also found starfish and scorpion on a stick that the eldest wild one was desperate to try. I refused though because, dear reader, that seems like a great way to get sick. Or at least get a nasty stomach ache. After getting her cotton candy, Violet became the center of quite a bit of attention. At least 15 tourists circled around her and started taking her picture. They were friendly and she didn't seem phased but it was pretty funny. Yet another reminder that we aren't in Kansas anymore:)
Oh. And you will be happy to know that we all survived our first trip to the Chinese toilets!