Adventures in Beijing

The Bridges Family at the Great Wall

The Bridges at Tienanmen Square

Been having some trouble with the internet not being consistent here at this hotel, so I may not get to post a full report with all of the pics I'd like, but here it goes...

Today was a busy day.  All touristy stuff.  We began the day with a fantastic breakfast buffet in the restaurant.  Really interesting stuff on it, and just about everything was quite tasty.  It was weird having noodles and rice-based things for breakfast, but hey, it was good.

Our first stop was Tienanmen Sqaure and the Forbidden City.  One of the first interesting things was the massive line of hundreds of Chinese waiting to get a glimpse of Chairman Mao's dead body on display in a building there.  After we passed that area, we headed into the Forbidden City's series of courtyard after courtyard, which was filled with beautiful architecture and 600 year old stone floors.   After about the third courtyard and giant read structure, you sort of started having this "haven't I seen this before?" feeling.  But still, it was highly interesting and as they say "bigger than life."

Lunch was at a Jade Store which has a banquet area.  The meal was a "family style" authentic Chinese cuisine served on a lazy susan amongst our tablemates.  We were given a presentation on how jade was processed and carved, how to spot fakes, etc..  We then had time to browse the store, where Sharon purchased a relatively nice set of earrings and Nathan got a jade frog.

This solid jade ship can be yours for only $50,000 USD.

Then it was off to the great wall, or as I like to call it, "The Insane Staircase of China."  It was definitely a cardio workout, and I'm a128% sure I reached or exceeded my target heartrate at some point during the climb. :)  Mom and Dad didn't venture too high, but the rest of us climbed up to the second tower and got a great view.  Had we have had more time, I would have loved to have went higher.

We had dinner at the hotel tonight, and it's up insanely early tomorrow to board the plane for Shanghai.

After our Great Wall Tour, our guide handed us an official "invitation" from the Chinese government to pick up our child.

The end result of a tiring day.