Saturday

Today was a long day of touring. We had 4 other families fly in last night to join our group. 3 of them joined us for the touring. 2 were first time parents and they had many questions throughout the day. Tiananmen Square was so crowded. I don't remember so many people on either of the last trips I made to China. They had ropes to keep lines moving and it would have taken an hour standing in line if we hadn't been able to bypass it. Looked pretty much the same except for so many people. The Forbidden City was also crowded. I don't remember it going on for so long, but maybe it's because we'd already seen the Summer Palace and Ming Tombs. The actual buildings pretty much all look alike. I did enjoy the Imperial Gardens at the end. I was too tired to really walk around much though.

After the Forbidden City, we headed to a Jade Factory for lunch and some shopping. Our group sat at a table and sampled many dishes. I really liked the eggplant and "fried milk". Loved the fried milk and could see it as being a State Fair food. It was similar to cream cheese puffs but the milk wasn't creamy - a little more solid. We looked at all the jade jewelry afterwards, but the prices were more than I was willing to pay even after the steep discount they offered me.

After lunch, we headed on to the Great Wall. It was very, very cloudy and later in the day - about 3 p.m. by the time we got there. It wasn't crowded at all and the shop owners barely reacted when we walked by or walked into their stores. I walked up further than I thought I would. To the 2nd turret. Beyond that would have sorely tested my fear of heights. I did stay and watch my girls make it to the next turret, which was a long and extremely steep way. I kept imagining all sorts of ways they could fall and I finally decided I'd be better off not watching and trust they would be careful. They actually made it to the top and beyond. When they finally came down and realized they had another 30 minutes before the bus left, they were disappointed they came back. But one of the other moms told them not to go any further. They were bonding with the 6 year old in our group and deciding that they will be good big sisters. I would say of all the places we toured in Beijing, they liked the Great Wall best. I actually enjoyed the times we just walked around and observed normal life.

By the time we got back to the hotel (around 6:30-7) we were exhausted. We opted for ice cream for supper and then returning to the hotel. Both girls fell asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. I stayed up and packed our bags as we needed our suitcases outside our doors by 4:45 a.m. and needed to leave for the airport by 5:15.