Day 2: Busy day in Beijing

 

Our second day was packed with fun things to do from 8am-8:30pm. First stop for the day was a jade factory. There were a lot of beautiful pieces.

He is using a diamond "blade" to cut the jade.

One of the impressive pieces of jade

Fuzzy picture but you can see our group within the group. We went with our friends and it made the trip more fun for all the kids and crazier for everyone else :).

Our next stop is really why I wanted to go to China, to walk on the Great Wall. Unfortunately the day was rainy and misty but it did not deter us from walking as far as we could in our limited time. It did make taking pictures a little more difficult. The hike was a killer for me, I was really slow and for once I did not have a kid attached to me. I was too slow for everyone in our group and trudged a long by myself for a bit. One of the other ladies in the group walked with me for a bit and was encouraging. She took this picture for me.

Concuring the wall

Sophie continued onward with our friends but Andrew, Charlotte (she had no choice since she was hitching a ride) and Elanor walked with me to our top of the wall.

Doesn't it look like we are going to be walking up a hill with no stairs but once you got closer you could see all those miserable stairs that must be climbed.

We made it to the top. We stopped Sophie before she headed back down.

Elanor and Mom...this big building was at the top of our stopping point.

It had snowed earlier in the week and this was the leftovers. We can say we stepped in snow at the Great Wall while it rained.

Close up of the stairs, very uneven. I don't know what was worse, going up or going down.

Steps, the handrail was helpful but so low

Finished!

Funy sign before we started hiking



You are here in many places at once

 

After a filling lunch we went to the Summer Palace. Charlotte fell asleep on the bus on our way over and since it was drizzly and she really needed a nap, she and I stayed on the bus. I handed the camera off to Andrew and he documented the palace. This was a place the royal family came to during the summer months. There is a big lake and it looks lovely from pictures:) and I am sure it is even more beautiful in the summer. The girls enjoyed running around the outdoor hallways through the maze of the court yards. The tour guide told a story about a "crown prince" who was essentially a prisoner of the palace for many years because the dragon lady was ruling in his stead when he was too young and continued when he got older (or at least that is what Andrew remembers, he remembers thinking it was a luxury prison).

Elanor, Sophie and Sam

  

Our next stop was a freshwater pearl factory.

Pretend my picture is crystal clear and you would see about 25 little tiny pearls. Sometimes it was hard taking pictures one handed with a squirmy 2 year-old in my arms

Pretty pearl  necklaces. The fresh water pearls could be found in 4 colors: pink, lavendar, black and white.

 After the pearl factory we had dinner. It was the usual fair of foods. The kids had there fill of sprite and rice. Then we went to a famous street that sold crazy foods. This time Elanor zonked on the bus so I stayed with her while Andrew toured the street for 20 minutes.

Andrew ended up buying a stick of glazed green grapes. They were interested.

And finally we headed back to the hotel to get some rest and wake up to another long day.