Saturday,
July 21, 2012
After a somewhat restful night sleep and breakfast, we
were prepared for our day touring Beijing. We started out at
Tiananmen Square and then the Forbidden City. It was another
warm and muggy day and the crowds were enormous. Our guide
explained to us that it was summer break for the students and
more families come to visit causing the increased
traffic. The crowds were a little difficult for the kids, but we
made it through and had a few laughs as some high school
students were enamored with Carson and Lindley.
From there, we drove past the Birds Nest on our way to the Great
Wall. After quick tour of the Cloisonné factory, where handmade
enamel wear has been since the 1400's, we had our first
authentic Chinese meal, which consisted of rice and French Fries
for the kids. We shopped and made a few purchases and then went
to head out for the Great Wall. We were greeted with buckets of
rainfall. We all threw on ponchos and bought umbrellas. We told
the kids that this was only chance and let's just suck it up and
take it all in. Despite the heavy rain, we proceeded to climb to
the top of the wall. It is truly an amazing scene. We only wish
the visibility could have been a little better to capture the
magnitude of the surroundings. The kids were troopers through
the entire day and we are so proud of them. After battling 40
miles of bumper to bumper traffic, we made it back to the hotel,
ordered some KFC, and prepped for our departure to
Guangzhou in the morning. Exhaustion has set in once again and
we hope we can be well rested as we are only 2 days away from
meeting Sadie.
|
Tiananmen Square
Outside the gates of the Forbidden City
Inside the Forbidden City |
