The VISA photo shop is practically across the street from the White Swan Hotel, so our group met in the upper lobby and walked out the north entrance, across the street, then east about half a block to the shop.

The weather was delightfully warm and pleasant, but I noticed that only the tourists were dressed in short sleeve shirts. All of the local people were buried under heavy sweaters and coats.

We took turns getting our babys' photos taken. The U.S. Consulate has pretty strict requirements about size and camera angle, but the photographer seemed to know what she was doing, and Mr. Gu helped get the babies facing the right way and with pleasant expressions on their faces.

We waited our turn outside, where it was a little cooler. At first, I was surprised to see little old ladies glaring at me, since up till then all the Chinese people we had met had been very nice and friendly to us.