After breakfast I exchanged currency. Due to the exchange rate, I had a pretty fat stack. :). We went back to the room and got ready for the day out and about.
Our first item was to go to church, which was a non-denominational Christian church. It was a nice service with a lot of singing and a decent sermon. It was cool to see all of the different people there from all over the world. After church we went to a jade "factory" to learn about jade for 5 minutes and shop for a long time. We did end up buying small jade animals for each of the kids including Emerson that represent their animal on the Chinese zodiac. Emerson is a rat, like Julie and I, Max is a snake, Sydney is a sheep and Veronica is a pig. We'll have to look up the meanings when we get home. They told us, but we are on information overload.
After the jade factory we went to lunch where we are getting pretty good at using the lazy Susan and using chop sticks. The family we are paired with isn't a big fan of Chinese food though two of the girls are from China. The father is willing to try new food, but the others are about as picky as Max - well, maybe not THAT picky. :). We tried some local wine, but it was more like straight alcohol and a sip was about all we were in the mood for. The restaurant was a Chinese equivalent of Cracker Barrel back home as it had a shop attached to it, but no old time, down home country stuff. We finally loaded on the bus and were off to the great wall!
The section of the wall we went to was Ju Yong pass, which was awesome as I was afraid we'd be in Badaling, which is the most popular tourist section of the wall and very crowded. There were other people at Ju Yong, but it wasn't crazy at all. To say the wall is steep is an understatement it is easily 30-35 degrees of vertical and the steps are not consistent heights. Some are eery small, a few inches, and others are more like 14"! The first section we came to was more or less an inclined sloping section where there were padlocks attached to a chain along the one side. These are for newlyweds or families to show and strengthen their love. You have your name etched into the lock, attach it and throw away the keys. We did this on the way back down and have a great in-action photo of the keys flying through the air (thank you, Stephanie!). All five of us made it to the first terrace on the climb and we started the long steep section up to the first tower. After about a third of the way, Max decided he didn't want to go any further. Can't say we blame him; it was nerve wracking having people pass you at different speeds, some sitting along where the railing is, etc. Julie offered to stay on the terrace with Max while the girls and I journeyed onward. The girls did awesome and we made it to the top where the first tower was. No rest for the wicked and we started our way down, which was more of a worry for me knowing that getting down off a mountain is usually more dangerous and getting up. The good news is that they did super and we all made it down to flat land with no issues. While climbing down we were stopped along the way and the girls were asked to be in pictures. Sydney was happy to accommodate her adoring public, but Veronica was focused on getting down and didn't want to be in pictures. I also had a travel faux pas when an Asian man was climbing up the steps and said Hello I responded back ni hao and he let me know he was Korean! D-oh! Unfortunately for one of our travel families, their daughter fell on the way down and they are not sure if she broke her arm or not. They were going to spend the rest of the evening in the hospital in Beijing so we hope and pray everything is all right. What a rough start to the trip for them!
After the Great Wall, we had a quick dinner in a restaurant that had birds cages in the atrium and koi in water features. Wonder if any of them are on the menu? :). Dinner was quick we were off to the hotel and then to see an acrobatic show. We are all dragging and also just found out that our checked luggage needs to be picked up tonight at 10PM! The how is supposed to go until 8:30 so that will be tight. The show was good and I really think we almost sW one of the performers die twice only to be aver at the last minute. I can appreciate showmanship, but the look on his face and the way he was breathing didn't look like it was part of the show to me. The girls made it to the intermission but after that, were out like a light. The performers had amazing skills and the way they contorted, wow! We went back to the hotel room and put the kids to bed and started the packing process. We make a great team and knocked it out in about 30 minutes and called to get our bags picked up and went to sleep dreaming of meeting our son tomorrow!
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