Thursday, November 12, 2009

Forbidden City in the Winter

Greetings from a very snowy and bitterly cold Beijing.
My parents and I made the trek to the Forbidden City to see what was on offer and the snow and wet made things pretty hard going.
The light was very grey and I think most of these pictures are pretty flat despite my best efforts to coax a bit of life using Lightroom from the RAW image files.
Even the soldiers looked pissed off.
I've been to the Forbidden City a few times before but never when the white stuff was in such abundance. I had high hopes for some dramatic pictures but as you can see everything seemed a bit "blah".
The complex is HUGE and dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1402) and consists of a staggering 980 buildings.
Its the world's largest surviving palace.
Though interesting in winter I think it deserves a glorious summer's day to do it justice and you can get a glimpse of that here (there ARE other pictures lurking somewhere in this blog but I can't be bothered to run down the inks- its getting really late!)
Man that's making me cold just looking at it.
My parents have just spent the past two weeks on a cruise around Vietnam and Southern China and as a consequence were a little under-dressed for the weather. The "wrong" shoes in slushy snow results in shivers and a day cut short. We went on an expedition this evening for boots, scarves and gloves so tomorrow's trip to the Great Wall should be a little more comfortable.
I have loads more funny tidbits from China Daily but they'll have to wait for another day. I hope everyone reading has a great Thursday wherever you may be.
Tomorrow "To the Wall!" regardless of the elements.
Love to all and stay well.
T

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey there mr. robinson! i hope all is well with you. tried calling you the other day but i see you're busy with the parents. hope you're having a good time in the snow. i'm off to the sun in BA on sunday...i'll be sending you posts and some of my photography for you to critique. all the best, lisa

LadyHutch13 said...

You have an amazing eye for capturing incredible photos. I always enjoy seeing your work. Take care and enjoy the time with your parents.
Best wishes from A2. --Lady Hutch

Anonymous said...

Looks magical. Vaguely and strangely like your old stomping ground in some respects. Hope all are now suitably "rugged-up" to face the Great Wall, without wet feet and cold ears.
Take care
TR-HW