Communist Anniversary: A Tense time was had by all

In 2009, China celebrated it's 60th anniversary of communist rule.  We were in Beijing right before the big celebration.  When you walked around you knew it.  They had police and military everywhere.  You even had checkpoints that you had to walk through, like at the Forbidden  City.  The government did not want anything to ruin the celebration.

On the corner, near our hotel, they had a military style vehicle with armed soldiers.  We walked by them, once or twice.  I did not dare to take their picture, but normal Chinese citizens would go right up to them and take there picture.  I did shoot one from our room, though.

One night, I woke up after hearing a loud rumbling.  At first, I thought it was a train.  So, I looked out the window, but could not see anything.  The streetlights were off.  Later that week, I realized what it was.  They had been preparing for a rehearsal run of the parade that was going to happen.  During this parade, they showcase military vehicles and missiles.  What I heard was probably one of the transports rolling down the road.  Since, the lights were off, I could not see them.  As far as we knew, there were no train stations near our hotel.