We walked the Great Wall of China!

I am still amazed every time I say it! I never thought in my lifetime I would walk the Great Wall of China. Did I want to- you ask?? I am not really sure, but now that we live in China it was a must. When we found out we were moving here it was Nicholas's first request. So Nicholas had 2 days off school for Dragon Boat Festival and off we went to Beijing! It was a quick 2 hour flight from Shanghai (once you tackle a 15 hour flight any flight is quick) and we arrived Thursday morning anxious to explore Beijing. The rain put a little damper on our exploring, but we did make it over to Tiananmen Square. We were there just a few days before the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. The mood was very somber with the rain and the picture of Chairman Mao is kind of creepy to me - kind of like the man from American Gothic picture (we use to have it in our garage and it always creeped me out!).

We did have some time to enjoy

 the fabulous pool at the Grand Hyatt!

Later that night we went to The Legend of Kung Fu show. It was kind of mix between a Broadway show and River Dance. It was fun and the boys watched most of it (before Nicholas feel asleep in his seat and Kyle asleep on Mark's shoulder).

The next morning we were up bright and early to have a good breakfast at the hotel before heading to The Wall. However, the big breakfast came back to haunt us when Ian got car sick on the 2 hour car ride from Beijing. Luckily he stayed in good spirits and we had some snacks to enjoy along the way. We could not have had a better day - the rain was gone and there were beautiful blue skies! We got tickets for the cable car up and the toboggan slide down. Now we were thinking fun - a cable car ride up - look around- take photos- hop on the slide down. Well - we had no idea there was a walk from the cable car to the toboggan slide - a long walk with 3 children. The wall was built over 2000 years ago so the path was no where near easy to walk. There were areas with narrow steps that were each about 2 feet tall! It is a good thing we did not know the details because we would have never done it - but we DID and it was AMAZING!! Here is a video Nick made for his class back in Briarcliff! I might have stole this from the TODAY show - I do miss Matt Lauer!





Right before the entrance to the slide down- we were taking a last few photos- when a friendly American woman offered to take our family photograph. We obviously said great and she captured a few shots. As we all headed for the slide, the "where are you from?" conversation led us to find out we were walking The Great Wall of China with John and Pat Dosher from Havana, IL with their son John with his wife and kids and their granddaughter. I was talking to their granddaughter and she said she was from a small town near Peoria and I said "I graduated from Havana High School" she said " I go to Havana High School!!" It was all so very bizarre! We had a nice chat and took a quick photo together! WHAT A SMALL WORLD!

As you can see from the picture "Tobogganing is so simple" - well we were a little frightened! Mark had on a backpack carrier and took Kyle and Nicholas in his toboggan. Ian and I have the need for speed so we followed them VERY FAST!! So much fun!



After a 2 hour nap/ride back to Beijing we headed to the Historical hutong area of the city. This is an area that still has the tiny alleyways that where created during the Zhou Dynasty (1027-256 BC). We took a rickshaw ride through the tiny village and enjoyed the sites.




Later that night we joined our neighbors(they live 2 houses up the road from us here in Shanghai) for dinner to eat the famous Beijing Peking Duck. It was quite an experience that even the kids tried. They bring "your" duck to your table and slice it up for you. Then you eat the duck rolled in a thin tortilla like pancake with toppings of your choice. It was enjoyed by all!

Our final day in Beijing was spent on a boat ride to the Summer Palace.

What a great trip!