The Wall really is Great...

We went to the Great Wall today, on our last day of touring... it really was great. It was amazing to drive into the lot and see the wall on both sides of the road going on and on as far as you could see in any direction. Kitty, our guide, told us it's over 3,000 miles long and stretches along Mongolia from northeast to northwest China. We were able to walk up part of the wall, take some photos (and a bit of video, just for you, Tara).

From Beijing: Day 3 -- The Great Wall

Both Davids went the farthest up, got to the point of where they couldn't go anymore after taking the fork that lead to the watch that overlooked the other side of the mountain. Both Laurens and Richard made it much farther than Cathy and I. I was very prepared for the climb, it was mostly straight up and a lot of stairs... not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, since I live on the top floor of a walk up apartment building, but it was nutso. Being raised never to look over the edge of something and never to get near any edge, I was scared out of my mind... thanks a lot, dad! Going up wasn't bad at all... I was breathing well, I was having a good time looking at all of the different sized steps, until I decided to turn around and take a photo... bad news, I pictured the trek back down the wall and decided that was it for me. I think she read it on my face, because Cathy said her knees were hurting so she was more than happy to hang out with me and people watch while we waited for the others to make their ways up and back. We saw a huge group of school children on a Bejing educational tour (said it in their jackets). One kid was probably about 9 or 10 and had a camera around his neck that weighed so much it bent him nearly half over... Another woman was climbing the wall in knee-high boots with gold studs. It was interesting to see the different groups of people climbing and coming back down. Tourists from all over, military using the wall as stadium practice, running up and down, elderly people, children, families, couples. The people watching was better than in Times Square!

We also saw a cloisonne factory where we watched the process of making it and saw another showroom...

From Beijing: Day 3 -- Cloisonne and Ming Tombs

I just got something small, but some other things were purchased by others, we toured the Ming Tombs (where the emperors of the Ming dynasty were buried), the Olympic Stadium (just to take photos from the side of the highway) and had lunch inside of the jade factory, where Lauren K got a beautiful jade butterfly ring and a the others bought some great stuff, we went to a tea ceremony which was done like wine tasting, but with different types of tea. We topped the day off with a 9-course dinner and I was home just in time to catch Kian & Andrea on the webcam, again!

Such a great day. The final day of touring with a guide. We're going to the zoo tomorrow to see some pandas and doing our last bits of shopping before we head home on Friday.