Day 3 - June 2, 2007

Just to let you know, jet lag is a curious thing. Our day started this morning at the insanely early hour of 2:00 AM. I don't think I realized that people could actually get up that early :) We stayed in bed reading, played on the computer, called a few people, and basically had a nice relaxing morning. 5 hours later, we headed down to breakfast to start our day. Personally, I was ready for a nap, but that wasn't included in the breakfast plans.

Let me start by saying that I walked enough today to last me for about 3 months. First, we headed off for a tour of a jade factory. Very interesting, but quickly done. Next, we journeyed to the Great Wall. I had really been looking forward to this. Unfortunately, we were a bit disappointed because we were completely fogged in. However, despite that lack of beatiful scenery that we had been anticipating, we did get to experience CLIMBING the Great Wall. And CLIMB we did. We had a choice to go up the steeper section, or the milder section. Us being us - we chose the steeper. I think we must have climbed 1,500 feet. Some teenager along the way was counting steps. He had heard there were 1,700 steps up to the top. It was awe-inspiring. I just can't fathom how it was built. We climbed for 1 1/2 hours, and descended in 30 minutes. If you're wondering how that happened - we just faced downhill, and let gravity do its business while moving our legs a bit - kind of a controlled fall :). The only time we had trouble was when we caught up with slower moving folks and had to actually force our muscles to slow down. When it was done, we were actually relieved to have had the fog. I can't imagine the heat had the sun been blazing down on us. (18 hours later - my calf muscles have finally stopped shaking)

After lunch we went to the Summer Palace. This was where the Empress Dowager would go during the summers to escape the heat in Beijing. There is a huge man-made lake there with a large hill made out of the dirt excavated for the lake. It was an immense, beautiful area covered with trees, winding paths, and little pagoda-type buildings sprinkled throughout. There were also the formal buildings where the Empress Dowager lived, the temples, etc. One of the main attractions was the covered walkway which stretched along the water front for nearly 1/2 mile. It had more than 800 paintings on the ceiling! Our guide had planned on just walking through the main bits, but Todd wanted to go off the beaten path. She sat down, and we headed off for about 45 minutes of awesome explorations. That is when we found the winding paths, picturesque scenery, and tucked-away buildings. I think we took our guide by surprise - she said we were the first family that wanted to go climb more mountains after tackling the Great Wall. I can understand why the Empress Dowager would want to spend time here - what a gorgeous place! (as Todd said, "There are advantages to being an empress!")

We then came back to the hotel, and I managed to stay awake until 6:30 pm, while Todd battled sleep until 9:00. Lucky us, we get to go through this adjustment period again in just 13 more days.