Monday Continued

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We are back relaxing in the executive lounge with a glass of wine and snacks while we write and upload photos of our great day to the Great Wall. Mr. Lei and his driver picked us up at 9 AM at the hotel and after adjusting to the traffic, crazy drivers and lack of seatbelts in the van, we settled back and enjoyed the clear sky and mountain views. The cool windy air gave us bright, clear skies! We started at the Badaling section and hiked up quite a steep portion of the Wall, certainly getting our cardiovascular workout of the week. We took the “left” hand turn and walked to the end of the line and only passed a few others along the way, we really had the Wall to ourselves! We had a great morning enjoying the view and taking many photos. I was so happy to be back and that the boys finally were able to see this wonder! We had lunch at The Commune at The Great Wall with more views of the Wall through the windows, then stopped for photos at another section of the Wall! After we drove to the Ming Tombs and climbed down many sets of stairs into the Tomb of Emperor Ding. We stopped briefly at a Jade Factory on the drive back for a very brief shopping trip….I am thinking with the boys here that shopping is not going to be high on the priority list 
Tomorrow we are being adventurous and will be taking the subway and managing on our own. We are hoping to meet up with Kiersten Keester’s nephew, an exchange student in Beijing, to tour the Forbidden City. We think we are going to re-organize our schedule and hire Mr. Lei again as we enjoyed his knowledge and the ease of having the car available to us for the day, and you can’t beat the price. We paid roughly 150.00 for a guide, car and driver for a full 8 hour day!

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Photos

Commune at the Great Wall
Windows where we ate lunch overlooking the Wall

Comments

[Aunt Susan]

Great Wall
Looks like great weather! Nothing like a steep hike in the brisk air to get you goin'!! :-)