Forewarned that The Forbidden City can be overrun with tourists and visiting can easily warrant a day, and possibly more, I arrived early and with a belly full of breakfast.
Far from forbidden, the first set of gates were open! So in I walked and strolled straight passed the Forbidden Guards, who seemed to be more interested in running in circles than forbidding people.
The Meridian Gate proved a bit more challenging, with tour groups, queues, barriers and tickets counters.
Of course, none of these barriers were any match for my powers of tourism, and each were overcome with ease. Once inside, the Imperial stream, slithering through the courtyard in its crafted stone cutting, was a worthy distraction, before I confronted the Gate of Supreme Harmony.
In search of good photos, and perhaps guided by the hands of Emperors past, who must be disgusted by the number of commoners passing through the central gate these days, I made my way through the west entrance. Only later did I realise what a happy accident that turned out to be – all the tour groups go through the centre, which, by the forces of gravity no doubt, means pretty much everyone goes through the centre! This meant I found myself almost alone out on the wings of the city.
While not so forbidden any more, the place is definitely a city and, with 980 buildings linked by narrow alleys, its a good place to explore.
Some un-renovated wood still exists if you hunt around and keep your eyes peeled:
Following Lonely Planet's recommendation for the Palace Museum's Hall of Clocks twice-daily chiming performance, I made sure I didn't have to walk half way across the city to get there on time.
One of the biggest clocks on display:
Many of the ornate and intricate clocks came from Switzerland, Britain and France, who were, for some time, the leading practitioners of the art. Like so many things, the Chinese learned from these Imperial gifts and became master clocksmiths themselves.
The performing clocks:
Its great to see such fine craftsmanship working as intended and I'd say it was definitely worth structuring my day around the chiming performance in order to catch it.
The special feature of the clock on the far right above is to telescope upwards to celebrate the passing of time:
Many of the smaller buildings in the city follow a traditional courtyard layout. The entrance to the courtyard typically requires you to 'mind your step':
As the day wore on and my feet wore out, I made my way back to the central north-south thoroughfare to see some of the main palaces and halls with the thinning out (mostly Chinese) tourist hoards.
I finished my visit exiting the city through the northern Gate of Divine Might, which left me perfectly at the foot of Jingshan Hill. After a small but reasonable entrance fee of 2 Yuan (20p) and a short but steep climb, I was rewarded with a commanding view back south across the city:
The park entrance fee was small enough and the view good enough that I returned at the end of a clearer day:
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