And the cloisonné factory.
We would have really liked to see the Terra Cotta Warriors at Xian, but it was too far away. The kids modeled with a replica of the horses and warriors at the cloisonné factory.
We toured the water cube where 25 world records were shattered during the Olympics.
And the bird's nest. That thing is huge. It is the world's largest steel structure.
And the Great Wall.
The Great Wall was amazing. You really can't comprehend how big it is from pictures. It was beautiful. It was a work of art. And no one could have built it but the Chinese. Over 4000 miles long, and requiring an estimated 2-3 million Chinese lives for the construction, it is essentially the world's longest graveyard. (Although someone told me recently they have never found any bones when they were excavating the great wall. ???) We visited the Badaling section of the wall, which is the most visited. (You can see in the photo that most of China was there on the same day as us.) It is only about 50 miles from Beijing on the Badaling Expressway. The highest point is only about 1000 m above sea level, but it was a steep climb. The kids wanted to keep hiking as far as we could go, but we made them turn back. We all enjoyed it and I would have to say it was definitely a high point of our trip. Click here to read some interesting facts about the Great Wall of China. And did you know the Chinese invented the wheelbarrow?
The kids and Ed all wanted to buy a shirt that said, "I climbed the Great Wall of China", so I tried to bargain for 7 of them. They were asking an outrageous price and when I countered with a more reasonable price, the lady yelled at me to "Go HOME!" and practically pushed me out of her shop. I was affronted.
2 comments:
GO HOME?!! RUDE!!!!!!!!!! Well, I hope her shop goes up in smoke. Really hot smoke.
Wow. That is rude!
Incredible pictures. How exciting for your children to have such an experience at their ages. There is a marathon that runs along the wall. I would looooove to do that someday.
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