Olympic Park? We should have a competition for crossing the road!

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so in order to justify being blog-lazy , I will instead inundate you with pictures of the adventures of today! Also, regarding the title: I consider myself on par with the local skill set. In other words, I can cross the road like a boss. One has to just not take the blaring of horns to heart, it seems to be how they greet each other here.

I must begin with a picture of breakfast- in China breakfast is typically a steamed roll with pork, steak or some sort of veg in it. So this morning we ventured out to the local 7/11 to source some breakfast and came out with this roll of warm deliciousness. I could get used to this :)

Yum :)

So, braving the subway system once more (I'm actually getting quite good at it now-  I can even pronounce some of the station names! Although I haven't tried to say '  ' yet! Showed up at the Olympic Park after a few slick changes to emerge across the  road from the Water Cube and Birds Nest stadium.

Really impressive up close, although you do really want to pop the Water Cube with your finger like a bubble!

Braved (yes, braved) the wind and cold just long enough to get some lovely photos and slightly frostbitten fingers before sheltering in the only open shop for miles around. A McDonalds. Seriously, for a place that was the hub of the Olympics only eight years ago, the Olympic Park is all in all a little run down and very empty excepting a few men hawking photos and postcards. Saying this, the-lack of other tourists could be attributed to the weather, -5°C (-10˚ on the flats with windchill)!

Brad and Mark bundled up looking like Ninjas

Dived into the subway again to cross the city to the Temple of Heaven. About 600 years ago it became popular to worship Heaven. These temple grounds (now in the middle of the city) were highly ornate and peaceful place for the Emperor and up his officials to offer up sacrifices and pray. It was a little mind boggling as all of this splendour was sat practically in the middle of Beijing! You could turn a full circle around the highest Temple and see industrial and steel and glass buildings!

Other notable occurrences of the day:

Pipas (sunflower seeds) being sold at the morning market down the road from the hostel- I want to share these with my Camino friends as I know I am dangerously close to becoming addicted again.

Mid morning snack and also first food bought from a street vendor. He was cooking these over a charcoal fire in a cauldron of some kind. Best guess is that it is some form of squash, he did ones with  purple innards that looked waaay more exciting but didn't ask to partake quickly enough.

Have decided what to call my restaurant if I ever open one…..

This was the temperature inside one of the exhibits at the temple. This felt warm.

Apparently this is the norm. I have now been warned.

So now, delighted and exhausted I retire to my bed to bring up my core body temperature. Tomorrow the adventure continues…..