7-21, Day 2 in China

Day 2; July 21, 2012; Beijing, China

What a day we had today.  We met Alice early to travel via van to the Great Wall.  It was a 1 hour and 40 minute ride from our hotel.  It was very foggy and difficult to see any distance.  It was amazing to be on the Wall and so disappointing to not be able to see off into the distance.  The visibility was maybe half a mile.  I was hoping for amazing Great Wall photos to frame for our house but instead got very average to poor photos because of the fog/smog.  As we were descending the Wall it started to sprinkle then pour.  We drove to a nearby restaurant and had a delicious Chinese lunch:  mushroom with pork, chicken with chestnuts, eggplant and potatoes, spicy green beans, sweet and sour pork and tofu soup.  On the way back to the city, the road became flooded and we were stuck in a traffic jam.  At the side of the road, there was a four-foot wide flow of water.  The road was covered with two to three feet of water for 100 yards.  We were stopped for quite awhile and everyone was just standing bewildered about what to do.  Finally, first with buses then with vans, we caravaned through the flood.  We cheered for our driver!  We could not get out to tour the Olympic venue and the Birds Nest because of the heavy rain.  It was still very impressive even though we couldn’t see it very well.  We then drove to the theater to see an Acrobatics show.  How incredible it was!  The strength, balance, flexibility and stamina of the acrobats was amazing!  Halfway through the show I realized I’d been holding my breath afraid someone would fall and get hurt!  I think at one point there were eight motorcycles driving around in the ball together.  So crazy and impressive!  By the time we reached the hotel we were all exhausted.  

The vendors on the way up to the Great Wall.

The vendors looking down towards the parking lots.

The tram we took to get to the Wall.

Our first glimpse of the Wall.

First setting foot on the Wall.

Can you believe that sky?!?!

Don't let the haze fool you-- it was still stinkin' hot!

Our guide was really good about taking family photos for us!

Nikolas doing karate (can you tell the picture was not his idea? Ha!).

Looking out over the edge and down the mountainside.

Emalie's lock....unfortunately the area of the Wall we visited didn't have the chain to attach the lock.
But as you'll see in a later post, our guide did that for us the next time she visited a different part of the Wall.

You're bound to get a few photos like this when you hand off your camera to a 10-year old!

Our guide Alice (on the right) and her cousin.

This sign strikes me as funny......

The wonderful lunch that Alice arranged for us.

And the weather went from bad to worse.  It was so dark and raining so hard.
Look how dark it was at 2' in the afternoon.

We're officially stuck.  The road is flooded and we're in a serious traffic jam.

If you look closely you can see all the taxis pulled off to the side of the road on the right.  

Here Alice is trying to call our driver to find out where he is parked.  We're standing under an eave but nonetheless we're all still getting drenched.   This photo was taken after the acrobatics show....and it's still....raining.......!  I wish I could have taken pictures during the show, but it was prohibited.