Forbidden City

It was a perfect day in Beijing with enough wind to keep the smog from covering a bright blue sky and the mountains that surround the city. We took advantage of the mild weather and visited the Forbidden City, a 750,000 square-meter palace that is a maze of red walls and pavilions overlooking Beijing. It took us four hours just to walk around the complex without really exploring its many rooms and galleries. We recovered over dinner at Hou Hai Lake, where cobblestone pedestrian streets are lined with lakeside patios.