Day Two

Day two was amazing. The day was completely packed, we left our hotel room at 8:30 am after skyping with the boys and didn't return until 7:30 pm. I laid down on my bed and fell asleep without blogging. I miss the boys a lot and skyping with them has been great. I can't wait to do it when we have Grace! Our first stop on our tour yesterday was a jade factory. We then visited the Great Wall of China. It is simply amazing. I can see why it is one of the 7 wonders of the world. Our guide challenged us to climb to a certain spot on the wall, and I don't think he thought we would make it. I thought it would be a hike, but I had no idea! It is mostly stairs, with a few flat places. The steps are very steep and all different sizes ranging from a few inches to a couple of feet.

Paul and I and another couple took the challenge and climbed to the spot our guide suggested. It was totally exhausting, one of the hardest physical challenges I've ever had, but I am glad we did it. Coming down was much easier, but very steep and all of our legs were shaking.

Here we are at the bottom, if you look on the top of the mountain we climbed to the third structure from the left. This picture was actually taken before we climbed. It was in the 60's today and we were very hot. There were some Chinese ladies climbing with heels on. We also saw several small children climbing.

Our next stop was lunch at another really good Chinese place and then to the Olympic Village, which now sits empty. It was pretty neat, we just took pictures from the outside. Some Chinese people asked to have pictures made with us and our friends, but Gregory the three year old, was mobbed with fans once again. :) Our last stop was an acrobatic show. It was really amazing what the performers could do. I bought a video because I knew the boys would love it. I loved it too.

We still haven't had jet lag but I've been going to bed early and getting up very early (like 4:00am). We leave today (Sunday) to fly to Grace's province. I am so excited we've reached this point in the trip, but have thoroughly enjoyed everything about Beijing. The history here is so interesting. (And for any homeschool Story of the World users out there I actually knew enough about Chinese history from what I've read to the boys to be able to follow all that our guide has taught us very easily.)

I will try to post again in the morning! I can read emails and really enjoy reading them, I just haven't had a second to respond yet.