The Great Wall was today's adventure. First let me say that our bodies are officially screwed up. Last night we planned on going out for Peking Duck around 7:30. We both laid down to take a tiny nap around 4:30 and we woke up at 10:00. So much for the duck restaurant! We did the same thing tonight!!!!! We woke up at 9:45...Just in time to enjoy another less than satisfying and overly priced meal at the hotel restaurant. Ok, that's my rant. Now for the good stuff!

We left for The Wall around 8:00 on a tour bus. I feel the need to mention that this bus was most definitely designed with Chinese tourists in mind. There was no thought given to tall, big-hipped Americans!!! The drive to the wall was peaceful. The scenery was beautiful and I wish I could have taken a thousand pictures. The mountains outside of Beijing are breath-taking and so unlike the Appalachians that I love dearly. The mountains here are virtually devoid of vegetation. They are rugged formations of stone, dirt, and brush. It doesn't sound like anything remarkable but the mountains truly have a beauty all their own.

When we arrive at the wall our tour guide, Joy, informed us that everyone would get a ticket for the wall and the cable car ride to the top. I'd given Larry grief for the last couple of weeks telling how the wall was going to kick his butt. He was determined to walk it! He took the cable car ticket from Joy but also asked where we should go if we wanted to walk. Yikes! Fortunately, common sense prevailed and we got in line for the cars. Did I mention that I hate cable cars, chair lifts, and virtually any mechanized vehicle designed to carry people up the face of mountains? I'd love to post a picture from the cars, but I can't because I didn't take any. I was shaking and laughing too hard! We shared the car with David and Debbie, fellow southerners. Debbie is as fond of cable cars as I am (maybe more so) and it was an entertaining ride to the top.

Once at the top, we disembark and climbed the rest of the way. The climb was only about 200 yards, but it reminded me just how fat and out of shape I am. At the top there was about a 30 degree change in temperature and the wind was blowing around 25 miles per hour. Most of us were sorely unprepared for the dramatic change and chose not to linger. We took some pictures and then headed for the cable cars. As we were about to board, we noticed the interesting sign on the right. Glad we saw it, because I had already decided I was going to ride to the bottom with my legs hanging out!!!

At the bottom, David, Debbie, Larry and I headed for a small shop where we could warm ourselves. We sat down and placed our orders. Debbie ordered coffee and Larry and I ordered green tea. The coffee came in a small Pepsi glass and the green tea looked very much like grass clippings in a porcelain mug. I kept waiting for the leaves to sink but they never did! I made a couple attempts at drinking it, but had to stop when I got tea leaves lodged in my throat. We paid our bill and headed back to the bus. We stopped at a Cloisenne (sp?) factory and then headed back to the hotel.

I have a bone to pick with George W. Bush. He's interfered with my bladder twice and I'm not at all pleased!!!!! Coming in from the airport Friday night, we wound up in a traffic jam. Taffic in all four lanes was completely stopped and drivers were out, walking around trying to determine the cause of the hold up. That lasted for about 30 minutes. We've heard since then that the jam was caused by something related to W's visit. This afternoon on the way back from the wall I had to GO bad...very bad. Guess what? We got stuck in traffic because W's motorcade was coming through. The cool thing was that we actually got to SEE it. I'm still unhappy though and plan on emailing whitehouse.gov as soon as I finish this. It's crazy to come to the other side of the world and have your bladder infringed upon by your own president!!!!!

It's 12:05 a.m. right now. I'm not really tired...and shouldn't be considering the 5 hour nap that I had earlier. Tomorrow we're going to the Forbidden City, Tianmen Square and we'll also have a rickshaw tour. I feel sorry for the poor driver who gets Larry and Me!!!

That's all for now.
One more day until Kaitlyn!!!!!!!!!!