On my first night of sorting, I was seeing a bunch of pieces that stood out from all the others. For some reason, I decided to pull these pieces out onto a separate tray. At the end of that first night, I quickly took a closer look at these pieces, and found I was able to already make a few connections.

I don’t know why, but for some reason these few pieces reminded me of a carrousel you might see at a fair. I know that’s weird, but it was just the first thing that popped into my head when I first saw them.

I decided to take a quick peek at the puzzle poster to see if I could determine what these 5 pieces might be a part of, and I’m pretty sure I have — it’s the Forbidden City in Bejing, China.

According to Wikipedia, the Forbidden City was a political and ritual center of China for over 500 years. It was the home to 24 emperors, their families and servants from the Ming (~1420) dynasty and continuing through to the overthrowing of the Oing dynasty in 1912. It consists of over 980 buildings, including the Palace Museum, and encompasses more than 180 acres. It was called the Forbidden City as all commoners were banned from entering. Only the highest levels within the Imperial families and government were allowed entry. In 1925, the Palace Museum opened to the public. Today, it is one of the most heavily toured museums in the world.

THE HOLLYWOOD LINK: Did you know, the movie The Last Emperor (1987), a biographical film about Puyi, was the first feature film ever authorized by the government of the People’s Republic of China to be filmed in the Forbidden City? Pretty cool stuff.

This puzzle is going to teach me a lot, I can already tell!