Great Wall Day

Before we forget-Happy Wedding Weekend Erin and Eben! We are so sad to be missing your big day and wonderful Annapolis weekend. We are thinking about you all and hope the day was gorgeous...cannot wait to see the photos and introduce the newest family member when we all get together again.
And one more sidebar before today's recap...just wanted to express our true thanks for the comments to the blog...hearing from all of you has really made our days easier. We are a long long way from home and everything and everyone we know and love. We are so appreciative of our internet connection back to all of you. Please keep the comments coming as the days ahead are about to get even more new and different for us.
And now for today...
Today began with sunshine...a first for us in Beijing. The usual cloudy/smoggy skies were blue and the weather was perfect. We drove through the main Olympic area of Beijing and got some great views of the amazing venues that are hastily finishing construction for the big games starting in 82 days. They have a giant countdown clock constantly reminding them. From there we headed to a tour of the Summer Palace where the emperor enjoyed an amazing complex with it's own private lake and a spectacular palace and a series of islands. We did lots of walking, took a Dragon Boat across the lake and enjoyed the gorgeous day along with many tourists and locals. We saw our first babies in the infamous split pants and I experienced my first "Eastern style" squat potty...all those AM workouts to build strong quad muscles finally came in handy! Next it was off to a Mongolian style lunch. Once again, amazing foods to sample-Meat on a stick-so Scott can check that off the list of "Must Eat in China", as well as some very spicy noodles and beans, a meat and potato dish that resembled a Shepards Pie, a tofu dish, noodle dumplings and a sauerkraut and sausage dish and more local Beijing beer..all delicious and filling once again.
Then we took a long drive up to The Great Wall...driving in China is an experience that deserves a post all it's own...the roads are narrow and filled with every type of transportation you can imagine...we even saw donkey drawn carts today! We journeyed up some amazing mountains to The Great Wall. The word great is hardly justice for this man made masterpiece. It's breathtaking and certainly took our breath away as we climbed and climbed and climbed. I am excited to check that off my "To do" list. The small world highlight for today was meeting a family from Syracuse, NY on the Great Wall. They are here with their 9 year old adopted daughter for their first return visit. After we talked our guide into a quick stop at Starbucks, Great Wall to refuel, we were back in the van for a long drive back to Beijing. We had some time to kill before eating again...yes more food so Tony took us to Beijing #1 Silk Carpet Factory for a quick tour. We witnessed the unbelievable craft of the oriental rug. I have a whole new appreciation for the cost of these rugs...the ones we saw in progress will take app. 1 year to complete....two girls work on each rug and complete less than 1 inch per day of hand tying the knots of silk. And then it was time to eat again...the famous Peking Duck dinner in the VIP room was another feast. More veggies-eggplant and mushrooms, beans and tofu and the perfectly carved Peking duck spun around the lazy susan until we could eat no more.
Tonight we pack our bags to prepare for our 3 hour flight to Guangzhou tomorrow. Hopefully we will have photos to post from today once our traveling partners Sharon and John get them downloaded. Our camera battery was dead today so we didn't get a single pictures but they have promised to share the highlights with us. We'll fill you in on their cool family too later on.