A beautiful fall day dawned crisp and cool as I headed for Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City (aka the Imperial Palace, now officially the Palace Museum). The Chinese government is preparing for the 2008 Summer Olympics by restoring many antiquity sites like the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Shrine in Behai Park. Many of the side buildings in the Forbidden City have a vibrant coat of fresh paint, showing off brilliant reds, blues and golds. The more main buildings must be on a later schedule as the have the weather-faded look of a paint job several years old. By the olympics, I am sure everything will be refurbished and ready for the throngs that will arrive in beijing for the Summer Games. If you plan to going for the sights and not the Games, I suggest anytime after the Games have ended. Everything will be beautiful and the crowds will have disappeared. I hope you enjoy this picture tour of the Square and the Forbidden City.