The Great Wall of China

We made it to the Great Wall. What a symbollic step in the process. We have waited to get here for a long time and it was very exciting. It is unbelievable to look at and I don't possess the adjectives to describe it. It is amazing to be on something so old, it makes the U.S. seem very young.

We hiked up to the second tower from our starting point. It is incredibly steep. There were parts that sloped up so much that it was easier to walk up backwards! After reaching the second tower we were winded and a little light headed from the altitude and were immediately accosted by vendors. If you've ever been out of the States, say to Mexico or the Caribbean, you know that street vendors can be pretty relentless. So after many attempts to get them to leave us alone, the oxygen deprevation got to us and we walked down the Great Wall with a few overpriced, low quality souvenirs. Oh well.

We then went to a Friendship Store-a government run store and restaurant. We had an awesome lunch, the kind with lots of dishes and big lazy-susan in the middle. We shopped some more and then went to the Sacred Way-the pathway leading to the Ming Tombs. It was very beautiful and peaceful. After a nap we went out dinner to dinner with four people from our group to a Peking Duck restaurant. It was great. We are really enjoy our travel companions. Everyone is great and it's so exciting when we start talking about our babies-which by the way we will officially be meeting on Sunday afternoon!