Tea House

We decided to take it easy today and skip the tour of the Summer Palace.  Too many busy days in a row would be asking too much of Cohen. We had a leisurely morning, then headed out to walk around and do a bit of shopping.  There are lots of shops and malls close to our hotel so we did lots of bargaining.  The merchants are so funny.  They punch a price into a calculator and then hand you the calculator for your offer.  They're so dramatic when they look at your offer - some of them put their hand on their heart and throw their heads back as if to say "you're killing me".  Once you start the bargaining, they don't like to let you walk away.  If you say no and start to leave, they shout "Ok Ok Ok" and bring their price down some more.

Later this afternoon, we took in a tea ceremony at a Tea House.  The hostess showed us the proper way to make tea and we sampled 6 different teas. Then we had an opportunity to buy some of the tea and Cory splurged.  We won't be buying any Tetley or Lipton for a long, long time!

Yesterday we were proud of Cohen for being so well behaved... today we were amazed at how well he did.  When we walked into the Tea House and saw all the breakable tea cups, we thought oh dear!  But he sat through the entire presentation on Daddy's lap, munching on Cheerios and smiling at the staff.  The staff just went ga-ga over him.  They were circling around him and patting his cheek and trying to get him to smile (which is not difficult!).  One of them went to our guide and asked if he was a Chinese baby.  We got asked that by a shopkeeper at the Great Wall yesterday, too.

Tonight we went to a restaurant called Big Pizza just around the corner from the hotel for supper.  They had an awesome buffet with all kinds of Western food - even scalloped potatoes!  What a sight for sore eyes for this PEI girl.  Cohen tried spaghetti and loved it.  He also had a few spoonfuls of ice cream for dessert.  The look of surprise on his face for the first bite was priceless. Then be broke into one of his sunshiney smiles and high-fived Mommy, then Daddy.  I guess it was a hit!  We decided to let him burn off some of his energy by letting him walk back to the hotel holding our hands.  He smiled and babbled and laughed the whole way back.  We met up with a couple walking their two dogs and Cohen wanted to stop and watch the dogs.  He didn't seem to be afraid but held onto me pretty tight when one of the dogs barked.

Today was all about Daddy for Cohen.  He loves Dada so much already.  He spent most of the day in Daddy's arms.  When Cory went to the bathroom and closed the door, Cohen's little heart just broke and the big tears rolled down his face. Mama almost cried with him!  Our hearts are overflowing with love for this little prince.