Olympic Village Dragon Building

There are some pics today. I keep on forgetting things I wanted to post. The interesting thing about Tian’anmen Square is that it is quite busy in the morning. Chairman Mao’s mausoleum is open for viewing in the morning. It’s a very popular attraction. We saw the morning crowd and it was quite impressive. But we were on the bus and I couldn’t get a picture.Today’s visit was the Great Wall. We drove by the Olympic Village and stopped for some pictures. These 5 buildings were the living area and are supposed to represent a dragon. The first building is the dragon’s head. The last is the tail.

Gondola Cars

We drove to the Jinshanling area of the great wall. It’s over 2 hours outside Beijing, but it’s in the mountains, it’s not over-restored (and hence a little more authentic), and it’s not as crowded. It was well worth the drive. We started out by riding gondola cars from the parking lot up into the mountains. Our guide warned us about the locals. They do their best to “help” tourists walk along the wall. In exchange, the tourists are supposed to buy something ad exorbitant prices, such as a $16 refrigerator magnet. Some people wanted to buy the stuff. Others needed some help and were happy to buy something. But the locals were a nuisance to the rest of us. But the wall was still fabulous and we’re very glad we visited.

Great Wall

We didn’t spent all that much time climbing the wall. It follows the ridge of the mountains, which have dramatic dips and climbs. Parts of the wall were in pretty bad shape, making footing difficult in places. But the climbs were fun and the views spectacular. As is often the case, pictures can’t possibly give the feeling one gets when being there. But here’s some snap shots just for fun.

Great Wall

We ran into a lot of traffic coming back to our hotel. So we went out for a quick dinner about 7:30. As usual, the dinner had plenty of great dishes. The featured dish was dumplings. Yummy.

Great Wall

Great Wall

Great Wall