Steph and I were blessed with the cutest taxi driver from the train station to our hotel. I had a paper that had the name of our hotel on it in Pinyin (the phonetic spelling of Chinese characters) and surprisingly, our driver could read it. . .most people don't know Pinyin. And while he was driving, he would point to the English words and practice saying them. . .and then he would say them in Chinese and I would say them in Chinese and it was great fun.
After checking in, Stephanie and I walked to Tiananmen Square and tried to find a map of the city on our way there. We found a map and sat on a bench to try and figure out how to get to the restaurant that we wanted to go to for dinner. So, here are two American girls sitting on a bench in the middle of Beijing with this big map folded out on their laps. . .no wonder someone came up and asked us if we were lost. An American man and his wife tried to help us figure out where we needed to go. . .but they weren't sure either. It wasn't until they left that Stephanie found the humor in asking someone if they were lost while they were right across from Tiananmen Square. Of course we knew where we were. . .the big picture of Mao kind of gave that away. We just didn't know where where we were going.
A big part of this trip to Beijing was eating in places that we don't have in QD. . .and boy did we make the most of our time.
We started the western food tour in a place called Peter's TexMex. I may have written about this place before. . .but I'll mention it again because they have good burritos and it is so nice to have that Mexican food part of my stomach smiling once again!
We also had Greek gyros which were delicious.
Then, we were talking to some other friends who were there and heard rumor of a mall that had an Auntie Anne's pretzel shop. Well, off we went. . .and we found. . .
YES!!!! We had Coldstone!!!! It was so amazing! It tasted just like home! We didn't find Auntie Anne's, but we did find an Italian restaurant with delicious tortellini and then we walked back to Coldstone for dessert.
No, don't worry, we did find Auntie Anne's the next night. . .but seriously, we had an adventure both nights trying to find this place. . .but both times it was totally worth it.
One of my personal favorites was the day we went out for breakfast. We found like little hole in the wall diner that served up bottomless cups of coffee (a rarity in China), huge biscuits, omelets and hash browns. It really felt like we had stepped through the door, across the ocean and into the Waffle House of America in Watervliet, MI.
If you decide to come visit me, I will gladly take you to see the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. . .but be forewarned that I will also take you to eat at Peter's TexMex and Coldstone. Those tastes of home are vital to my sanity.
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