All of our friends in Shanghai told us time and again how cold it was in Beijing in the spring. They said there could be snow even in late April. So we took our big coats, big boots, and Cielo's snowsuit.
We later remembered, too late, that most Chinese don't travel that much. We're not sure any of our friends had ever been to Beijing at all, let alone in the spring.
After getting off the 19-hour train trip, we met our one-day guide, Ivy. Ivy did not think we should go to our hotel and rest, partly because it was early in the morning, and partly because Chinese CITS guides like to Stick To The Plan. So we went to the roasting hot, muggy, aggressive-vendor-infested Tiananmen Square right off the train.
(Side note: to get out of the Beijing West train station, where we arrived, you have to climb approximately 1000 steps. While we were tired, and it took 10 minutes to negotiate with the porters, we are glad we hired them to tote our stuff. We barely survived carrying our light stuff up that many stairs, wearing our heavy coats. If we had had to carry our heavy suitcases that far, we would have dissolved into smelly puddles).
Tiananmen Square is basically a concrete desert in which professional guides herd groups of tourists. It would be nice if we could extend the shepherd metaphor and say that they protected their flocks from predatory vendors, but that seems to be against the code the the CITS guide.
