Today is Wednesday, March 26 and we hired Jackie as our tour guide and he hired a van to get us to the Great Wall. First Grandpa Kent needed his coffee, so we drove for a while through the city to get some coffee. We ended up at McDonalds. Then we made our way to the Great Wall. It is a ways out of the city, and even as we were in the countryside Jackie said we were still in Beijing . This country is incredible, there is such a mix of old and new right next to each other and no one seems to mind. Once out of the city all of sudden there were mountains. Then we were at the wall. We went to the Mutianyu Section. As you get out of the car and start to walk up there are stalls of gifts and the people are coming at you to buy the stuff. It was very stressful. Then we started to walk the gazillion of stairs up to the wall. Sam was incredible. He was so excited and kept up an very quick pace, then so did David and I. I should note that he has been up to about 11 each night and waking about 5 AM. He did take a great nap on the way out to the Wall and had several dumplings for breakfast.
Once on the top it is breathtaking. Partly because you just climbed a gazillion stairs and partly because it is so enormous. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical, I thought, so it is a big wall and some mountains. But I was in awe. The view is spectacular, the guard towers were so cool, they had all these rooms and little windows to look out. Sam loved it and kept posing for pictures. He would find something cool and then run to find Grammy and Grandpa to show them. The other cool thing about the wall was that it was full of all sorts of people, we heard so many different languages and saw such a mix of people. Once on the wall, we climbed higher on the wall to see more. Then we took the cable car down. For those of you that know my mom and her fear of heights and dangling, it was a huge step for her. I think the prospect of walking all the way back down helped and that it was enclosed. Plus our car said that President Clinton rode in it. We went in a separate car from the boys, we thought that would help.
Then we took another tour of Beijing and saw the Olympic area, had a very good lunch for about $25 for seven people and went to Silk Street. It was an incredible shopping area. It was what you hear about with knock offs and silk and all sorts of things to buy. We got some nice items. Sam got a Lego kit. We had to bargain for everything. It was very stressful. David is incredible at the bargaining though. I guess I paid too much for Sam’s soccer jersey, but David walked away and I am not good at the bargaining thing.
We finally got home and walked to dinner. It had a hot plate built into the table, they brought the parts and it cooked in front of us. It was so good. It was about $14. We thought it would be more expensive because the restaurant looked nicer, but I guess not.
Until next time……….
Once on the top it is breathtaking. Partly because you just climbed a gazillion stairs and partly because it is so enormous. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical, I thought, so it is a big wall and some mountains. But I was in awe. The view is spectacular, the guard towers were so cool, they had all these rooms and little windows to look out. Sam loved it and kept posing for pictures. He would find something cool and then run to find Grammy and Grandpa to show them. The other cool thing about the wall was that it was full of all sorts of people, we heard so many different languages and saw such a mix of people. Once on the wall, we climbed higher on the wall to see more. Then we took the cable car down. For those of you that know my mom and her fear of heights and dangling, it was a huge step for her. I think the prospect of walking all the way back down helped and that it was enclosed. Plus our car said that President Clinton rode in it. We went in a separate car from the boys, we thought that would help.
Then we took another tour of Beijing and saw the Olympic area, had a very good lunch for about $25 for seven people and went to Silk Street. It was an incredible shopping area. It was what you hear about with knock offs and silk and all sorts of things to buy. We got some nice items. Sam got a Lego kit. We had to bargain for everything. It was very stressful. David is incredible at the bargaining though. I guess I paid too much for Sam’s soccer jersey, but David walked away and I am not good at the bargaining thing.
We finally got home and walked to dinner. It had a hot plate built into the table, they brought the parts and it cooked in front of us. It was so good. It was about $14. We thought it would be more expensive because the restaurant looked nicer, but I guess not.
Until next time……….
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