Great Wall

We awoke to snow this morning. Not a huge snow but around 1 inch on everything. They quickly cleared the streets of Beijing but the outer areas not so quick.

We headed out on the long drive to the Great Wall of China. The girls were so excited. On the way to the wall we stopped at the Jade Factory to see how Jade sculptures are made and of course to check out their shops. Robin had been promised a Christmas gift from China and she found a beautiful Jade Bracelet at the factory.

When arrived at the wall we were shocked to see how steep the climb would be. This was a different place than we had been before. We started the climb up the mountain and it was very slick in places. Laura was such a trooper moving quickly up the steps. Shiyan did great too but struggled on the bigger steps having to pull herself up. See the pictures on the photo link and you will understand how steep. We made it to the third guard house from the top and had to turn back to get down in time to meet our group. Shiyan only had to be carried for a few minutes on the way up and made it down on her own.

After the Great Wall we went to the Cloisonné factory and had lunch in their restaurant. The food was again out of this world we were able to sample about 10 dishes.

Next stop was the Ming Tombs. We walked around and checked out some of the history. There are 13 tombs at this area but we only visited 1.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Olympic area to take pictures of the “Birds Nest” and the “Water Cube” where the swimming events were held during the games. Nice to see this up close and good for the girls to experience more Chinese culture. Hosting the games was a really big deal to the people of China..

When we got back to the hotel we were blessed with a visit with our friend Shiyan. Our little girl is named after her. We had not seen her in 5 years but try to keep in touch. We had a wonderful visit with her and really enjoyed catching up.

Tomorrow we fly to Zhengzhou and have a fairly slow day. We probably will not have much to report until Monday. That will be a big day when Maria becomes our child.