Another early day. I hopped in the shower first, then uploaded some photos. We were going to leave the hotel and find somewhere for breakfast, since none of us wanted to do the buffet at the hotel, but then we discovered the hotel offered a la carte as well. In the end, we all ended up getting the buffet anyhow.
Our destination for the day was the Badaling section of the great wall. If I had a choice, I’d have preferred some of the less touristy areas, but time was of the essence. On the way to the wall we passed Olympic Park, which is very near to completion. Birds Nest Stadium looks pretty cool, as does the swimming area. They have yet to open the area to the public, as they want it to be a surprise when the olympics begin in just over 150 days.
At the wall, everyone opted for the easy route. Even still, the climb was pretty steep at times, and must be quite interesting in slippery conditions. We made it to the Hero tower, and now we are all men (or so the Chinese believe). I don’t really feel all that different. Adam received a not so nice comment from one of the security guards on the wall, but otherwise it was all good.
We visited the Ming tombs next, which was where many of the emperors had been buried. Huge spacious tombs buried under the earth. There was also a nice, stone statue lined, walk, which was part of the procession that the (dead) emperors took on the way to being buried.
In the evening, I went to the corner store with Gabriella to stock up on water and snacks, then the adults (which includes me – go figure!) went out for dinner. We went to a hot pot (kind of like a Chinese fondue without the cheese) place, while the kids stayed home and wreaked havoc (although they did a good job of cleaning up afterwards).
