This building wasn't part of the tour, but it was visible from the subway exit and fit the theme of the tour.
On our way from the subway to the Legation Quarter, we passed a little park in the style of traditional Chinese gardens, with their rocks and stairs and fancy gazebos. This one didn't have a pond, but it was nice anyway.
It also had an informational area: China's technological history! Here's the nuclear bomb. Apparently the invention of rockets was preceded by radio by only 3 or 4 years. Sounds dangerous to me...
Continuing the tour, we passed our first oddly-Western-looking building. Lena was a big fan of the wrought-iron.
Saint Michael's Cathedral wasn't open today, but it was nice looking from the outside. I particularly liked the angel statue out front. You know what WAS open, though? The convenience store between the church and the street.
Classy AND respectful.
Next up was the old French post office. What is it now? A Sichuan Restaurant, of course!
After that was the former Yokohama Specie Bank. Now it is some kind of private establishment, with guards and such. I really liked the way this building looked on the corner, so I took way too many photos. This is the best of them.
The Yokohama Bank is on the corner of a wide, tree-lined street with a park in the middle. It's a lot like Portland's park blocks, so Lena and I really enjoyed walking up and down.
So here is the first Legation, and it's British (those jerks, always Legating). It took us a while to figure out that "Legation" mostly referred to the walls themselves. That is to say, it's not so much about specific buildings (as many are no longer original) as it is about the demarcated territory. The British Legation was pretty big, and included this monster:
That's the Ministry of State Security. I didn't ask any questions, and I suggest you do the same.
This cool building used to be the National Bank of New York, but now it is the Beijing Municipal Police Museum. It didn't seem free or interesting, so we passed on it. Sweet building, though.
Seeing the bank clued us in that we were approaching the American Legation, but we only really knew we'd arrived when we spotted all the red brick with white trim.
it reminded me of Jamestown.
Minus all the glass buildings and cars, this is apparently a pretty faithfully maintained historical compound.
There are a lot more miscellaneous photos from our walk, and they'll be on my facebook page. Til next time!
