Another Gorgeous View

And here is the view from our living room. This construction project involves an extension of the existing Beijing subway system. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, the city is building a bullet train from just outside of our apartment to the airport (which is otherwise a 30 minute drive barring any traffic).

The city of Beijing (population 15 million people) consists of 6 rings which encircle the city. In the center, the Forbidden City forms the first ring. From there, in a concentric manner, each ring gets larger and larger as it expands out from the Forbidden City. We live on the northeast corner of the third ring road, close to the Central Business District and much of the action.