photos from a day, long ago, this fall...when my class went to take in the forbidden city, beijing's old imperial palace. today the palace is still at the physical and political center of the city. tiananmen square takes its name from the outer southernmost gate of the palace.
in my autumn tourist's uniform: korean cardigan from the wholesale market near the beijing zoo and my university; vintage blazer (over my arm) that i got for free from a church basement sale in chicago, and puma sneakers from another similar charity sale...to me, the forbidden city is less about the spectacular architecture (my chinese art prof would call it "monumental") and more about the contrasts between the weird, super-flat, wide-open plazas between all the central buildings and the narrow, high-walled alleys in the imperial court quarters along the sides of the area.
the maze of red-walled side alleys. one of the best parts was the accidental plants growing on the gold roofs.
getting crazy in one of the museum rooms...blazer plus zoo market scarf.
we went to a charming alley/hutong near the lama temple for dinner. it is apparently the "next
nanluoguxiang," but fortunately it's still got a bit of grit and funk to it. the alleys around it are not yet tourist-ified at all. if i move back to beijing (which i hope to), this is one of the neighborhoods i would like to live in:
we ate at the superb western-food
vineyard cafe for dinner, in a gorgeous old courtyard house.
