We've Hit the Wall

Today was an early start as we set off for The Great Wall of China. The girls were very excited to set foot on such an amazing structure, one that they had set foot on (or their foot through Mom and Dad's foot) during their respective adoption trips in 2000 and 2003.

Portions of The Great Wall were first constructed in 7th century B.C. The Wall was primarily built to fortify and protect the Chinese Empire from the Mongolians and other invaders. Successive Chinese dynasties all had a hand in repairing, re-building, lengthening, modifying and preserving the Great Wall. There does not seem to be one agreed-to length of the structure, but it is approx. 3000 km long, stretching from Kansu in the west to the Yellow Sea in the east.

Today, we visited a famous tourist section of the Wall, Badaling, 70 km north of Beijing. Construction of this portion of the Wall started in 1368 and lasted for over 200 years. There were quite a few people today given that it was Sunday, but a great visit was had by all. Upon arrival, the group was first greeted by 2 large birthday cakes to celebrate several birthdays which included those for Jane, Quinn and Steve. The weather was a little cool because of the wind at the Wall (maybe 7 C), but the views were spectacular as always. The kids, Jennifer, Flat Jessica and Flat Stanley, enjoyed their first taste of one of the "new" 7 Wonders of the World. This trip, Jane made the higher climb with Jennifer (Jane's highest climb ever!!), while Daddy dealt with squirmy Sir Quinn, who fell asleep on Ba Ba's shoulders on the way down.

After the visit to Badaling, we had lunch at the restaurant in the "Jade Factory", and again watched Quinn and his Shiyan mate Alice make a mess of the food and themselves. We all survived and spent an hour or so making a few Jade purchases.

As we drove back to our hotel, the tremendous growth of Beijing since our last 2 visits is very evident, and the city seems to span an enormous distance from one end of the city to the other. We passed by 3 Olympic venues, including the main Olympic stadium for Opening and Closing ceremonies and Track and Field, and the Water Cube, host to the swimming events.

Upon arrival at the hotel, the kids bunkered in for a DVD. A Visa photo shoot in the evening and an 8 1/2 dumpling outing for Quinn, signalled the end of a long day.

Tomorrow morning, Quinn gets his medical while the kids may go kite flying at the Temple of Heaven, and then its a free afternoon (for more shopping for Jane).