Beijing, China

After Guilin, we boarded the airplane and flew up north to Beijing. After a fairly long ride from the airport to the hotel - remember, there are only 16 million people that live in Beijing, we got settled in for the night. Have I mentioned that the beds were harder than the carpeted floor? Hummm, most of us slept well. The first day in Beijing with our guide, Chris and her driver, was spent at the Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We had a nice time wandering around those sites - people were really curious about us and aren't shy about staring or invading personal space. Interesting. We got a small feel for what the Hollywood stars must feel like. That evening, we had an interesting Imperial dinner, with food that the Emperor would have liked - deer tendons, turtle egg soup, mystery nuggets, etc . . . glad I packed loads of granola bars and even peanut butter and crackers! We attended a Chinese Acrobat show that we all enjoyed and also took a Rickshaw ride through an interesting housing district. Day two was filled with excitement, because it was Great Wall day!! We loved hiking the Great Wall of China, and that was a favorite for all 5 of us. It is a very steep portion of the Wall, so it wasn't a leisurely walk. The whole time we were in Beijing, there was a smog/haze over the city, so none of our pictures are clear. We still got an impressive view of the Wall. Following that, we visited the Ming Tomb and eventually ended up at a very exciting Kung Fu show! It was great! We got toted around to a silk factory, cloisinais factory, jade factory, and porcelain factory - all with high pitch sales following the demonstrations. No bargains to be had there, so no buying from the Gabriel's. On the last day, we asked to do some shopping, which was fun, a very quick trip to the zoo to see the Panda Bears, and then out to the Summer Palace, which was very pretty! Overall, our trip was very memorable and we are glad we were able to experience such an interesting country! God Bless the USA!! We are all very fortunate!