Mario and I decided that we needed an excuse to stop watching movies and go see more of this city. The plan: meet at a subway between our apartments and explore the Muslim area of the city.
It's called Xuanwu. It has a mosque, Chinese food cooked in the Muslim style, and an amazing art park.
Mario accidentally went to the wrong subway stop, so we spent more than the appropriate amount of time meeting. And then had trouble finding the park of our destination. We wandered through a hutong, taking wild turns and enjoying watching the old men in pajamas playing with medicine balls. Suddenly, we were in the art park. We wandered around talking about packing and plans and enjoying the aroma of roses and ginkgo trees and the contrast of spring green with Communist red.
We had dinner with a Chinese friend and walked some more. It was pleasant. I'm starting to feel content with my experience with Beijing. Only a few more sites until I'll feel like I've "seen it all." And with time winding down, it's a good feeling.
