Temple of Heaven and Wangfujing with Mom and Melanie

Monday, June 2 was a holiday in China - Dragon Boat Festival - so I had the day off. We headed off to the Temple of Heaven in the morning.

This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests behind the trio.

This shot is inside the hall. The building has been rebuilt several times but the current form dates back to 1751. Prayers were offered the springtime for a good fall harvest.

This shot is looking north from the Circular Mound Alter toward the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

This is the inside of the East Annex building.

As I have described before there are all sorts of people out enjoying the park. This guy is engaging in a popular activity. He is using the big brush to write auspicious or famous sayings on the sidewalk. I saw a guy the other day doing this with both hands at the same time.

This guy was out using a new, old-style camera to take a picture. He is using the hood to block out light so he can see what the shot will look like on the focusing screen. Once he has it all set up he will install the film plate and expose it. He must have fussed around for 10 minutes to get it like he wanted. No surprise I guess, I imagine each film piece is pretty expensive. The film is about 8x10 inches.

Here is is subject. I spent about 2 seconds composing this shot. I am guessing that this was a photography school exercise.

I've mentioned before that this is a popular spot for wedding photography. There were 4 couples there this day. These are apparently rented dresses et al. Click and see if you can see the 3-inch safety pins holding her dress together.

Here is another woman. The helper was sort of tossing her dress train in to the air to get a sense of motion.

Same hair style, same earrings, but different woman and fiance.

Melanie NEVER takes a bad picture. She always stands there and smiles, never kibitzes about how the picture should be taken, etc.

This group was dancing for exercise and to add to the ambiance of the park.

In fifty years this little girl will be ready to join in.

Here are earlier posts about the Temple of Heaven.
Ed and Nancy at the Temple of Heaven
Tom and Misheil at the Temple of Heaven
Mike and Amanda at the Temple of Heaven
Tom at the Temple of Heaven
Work Colleagues at the Temple of Heaven

These guys were fascinated by the soccer ball tricks the guy above was performing.  Interesting buggy - not sure if it was homemade or just repaired.

The flowers in the park were pretty.

In the afternoon we headed down to Wangfujing for shopping and dinner.

Here are Serious, Happy and Sassy.

Click to enlarge.

Here is a shot of Melanie outside the the Quanjude Roast Duck restaurant.