Linda's Comments - Day 2

Our Tour Group
Several of you have asked about our tour group. There are four bus loads of us on this Collette Vacation. We have people from Texas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and of course Pittsburgh and Baltimore. One of our tour mates is a lovely lady named Fran. Fran is an older lady (let's say she would love Lawrence Welk), who has traveled alot. She was enthralling us with her recent adventures to Alaska. She mentioned at dinner last night that the high school that she taught at in Ohio called Wilton Woods was here in China performing several choral concerts around the country. She talked about how much she would love to see them. We at the table didn't think more about this because China is a big country and what's the chances that we would run into them.

A Lovely Story
Today at the Forbidden City, Jossalyn spotted a group of young American students that had a "W" on their shirts. But it turned out to be a school called Walter Peyton. We got poor Fran's hopes up. Later as we were further into the Forbidden City, Jossalyn spotted another group of American youngsters...again with a "W" on their shirts. I said please check them out first before we mention anything to Fran. Would you believe that these were the very students from Wilton Woods that Fran mentioned at dinner. Who would have thought that they were at the Forbidden City at the same time as us. We raced to tell Fran and the other Ohio tour members. They were immediately engulfed by the students and staff!! People knew people. They were so excited to see other Americans and just blown away that many of them were from their home town!!! It was truly a beautiful feeling. The rest of our tour group was adopted by the school and the staff! They were performing at The Forbidden City Theater tonight at 7:30pm.

Our First Fall
Jossalyn wanted me to mention that we did have our first tour group member to fall. Mary Lamb (we tease her by always saying Mary had a little lamb), fell at the Summer Palace yesterday. There are alot of thresholds that you literally have to step over. Plus, many of the walkways are made of brick that are worn by time. Mary was alright (maybe a little embarrased) and laughed it off that she was the first to fall.

More About Our Tour Group
How do you keep track of everyone? We stay in groups by our busses. Jossalyn and I are on Gareth and Stella's bus. Gareth is our Collette Vacations guide. Stella is our local Asian guide. I like to think we're on the cool bus! Most of the folks on our bus are from Kentucky and Ohio. Jossalyn and I have bonded with a lovely couple named Dick and Bunny. Bunny used to be a hairdresser and just loves Jossalyn's hair.

Gareth Our Tour Guide
Gareth our tour guide is a sharp, snazzy dresser. He mentioned to us that he has a collection of silk ties (he has about 50) all handmade here in China. Each day he wears one and they are incredible. More importanly, Gareth knows everything about Beijing, especially the best places to shop!!! Last year he took home 14 designer knock off purses for his mother and sisters! So he's promised to give Jossalyn and I the names of great shopping places to go on Monday on our day off. Are we bad that we've chosen to go shopping instead of going to the Terra Cotta Warriors!:-)
-- Linda

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