I met Brad at his hotel and we headed back to “Eyeglass City” to pick up his 3 pair of glasses. When we visited last Saturday, we stumbled on the Panjiayuan Antique Market nearby. I had heard about it and always wanted to visit, but just hadn’t done it. We went back by today and spent more time wandering around. Brad had seen a few items he thought he might like to take back to the US. He ended up purchasing a small birdcage with a windup bird that moved around inside the cage.

One small section of the Panjiayuan Antique Market.

The upper area is a bike and cart parking area. The lower area was all books.

We were wondering how some of these items were 

Row after row of vendors.

This is one of the antique bird cages, similar to the one Brad bought to take back to the US.

After he picked up his glasses (really great job on the lenses he thought), we went to the Silk Street Market, where he bought two watches on Saturday. One of the wristbands had come loose, so he wanted to let them fix it. They took care of it quickly. Unfortunately, while I was waiting, I started looking at “Rolex” watches and ended up buying one.

After the Silk Street Market, we were hungry and Brad was ready to try some “local” chinese food, so we took a taxi to the small neighborhood restaurant near Judy’s school. I knew the food was good, and also how to order what we wanted. As we got out of the taxi and it drove away, Brad realized he couldn’t find his phone. After scouring through all his pockets and bags, we realized it must have slipped to the floor of the taxi when we got out. By the time we got where we could call his phone (US number, I don’t have international service on mine) it had already been turned off by someone. Either the driver or his next passenger is now the owner of a new (10 days) iPhone 6+. Ouch!

After the realization the phone was gone, there was nothing else to do but finish our sightseeing plans. We ate lunch (it was great), and then headed up to the Olympic Park. We had a nice visit, walking through the Water Cube, and then out and around The Birdcage. After the Olympic Park visit, jet lag was beginning to get to Brad so we headed back to his hotel.

Brad Barnes at the Beijing Olympic Park, in front of the Water Cube.

The Birdcage is still lit up for APEC

We had a good two days of seeing Beijing. He had seen it when the weather was great and pollution was low (around 75 on Saturday). He also saw it when the pollution was terrible (it was over 400 today). “Apocalyptic” was the word he used. When we left his hotel this morning it was around 260, but got worse with each hour. We visited areas of Beijing I hadn’t seen before, and I’m sure I’ll be taking Judy back to them in the not too distant future.