Temple of Heaven Pictures

When you enter through the east gate (as we did) you begin by walking down a tree-lined pathway to the inner temples. It's like another world as soon as you walk inside.

Me and Kristen right before walking into the inner temple area. An Asian man in a cowboy hat escorting a Panamanian took this picture.

I'm not entirely sure what this building was used for, but it now houses a convenience store that sells cold drinks and popsicles to hot tourists.

This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. You can tell it is a prayer hall by the circular design on top of the square base (although you can't tell it is a square base from this picture). You've probably seen this building before on Chinese tourist literature.

This is a closer view of the Hall so you can see how it is decorated. The inside is roped off, so you have to fight all of the other tourists for a good spot to take pictures of the interior.

These are two pictures of the park surrounding the temples. It looks like nothing else I have seen in Beijing. I have heard that there are some other parks in the city, so perhaps I will look for them next weekend.