Beijing in a Day...is that even possible 196/365

First, I guess you noticed the group grew a little.  The blonde girl is Alicia.  She is from Minnesota and really wanted to make the trip.  She just graduated from high school and her parents consented, but did not want her traveling to China alone, so she scheduled her flights with ours so she could tag along and make it to camp.  The other girl is CHRISTINA!!!  I love her!  She and I became friends last year at camp and she has now moved to Beijing.  She helped me find our driver and she had worked it out with him to pick her up on the side of the road so she could go with us to the wall.  I love her!  

Since I have seen the Great Wall several times before, spending time with Christina was the highlight of my day.  She and I both struggled up the wall while the college kids bounced up it like it was a trampoline.

 Our driver, Mr. Ping, stopped to tell us in the van on the way about this mountain.  He said it is like a sleeping man.  On the one side of the mountain, his mouth is wide open, on this side he is a "more handsome man" according to Mr. Ping.  So, once on the mountain, I had to take a picture.  It does in fact look like a man.

Even though it has only been a long day of traveling, by this point, the group is gelling, and I am excited to see our little family form its bonds.

We ventured off the unbeaten path and explored the unrestored section.  It was neat to see.  The majority of the wall has not been repaired and it was neat to see what it looked like from it's original condition.  The majesty of the wall always amazes me.

After the wall we ventured to the tea place.  I don't drink tea...not any tea, so I took pictures.  Blake obviously doesn't drink tea either because he looked miserable every time he took a drink.  After tea we circled the Olympic venues and headed back to the hotel.  I gave them 30 minutes to freshen up.  I told them not to lay down, I wanted them up and moving so we could go to Pizza Hut.  After all Pizza Hut in China is the best pizza in the world.

Imagine our surprise when we walked to Pizza Hut and they were out of Pizza.  How could it be?  That is like McDonalds saying they are out of burgers.  So, we settled for Subway.  It was edible, that's about it.  Only in China do they put cucumbers on your sandwich.  Then in my effort to be a jet lag nazi, I paraded them down Wangfujing street.

When we got to the end of the street they wanted to stop and get ice cream at McDonalds. So, we got in line.  Just as everyone almost had their ice cream I noticed James sound asleep in on the busiest shopping street in all of Beijing.  So I had everyone walk and eat so we could keep James going.

I took them down snack street because I figured the sites and smells would keep them on their toes.  That did the trick.  Shortly after we walked back and hit the bed.  I felt good about the fact that I had kept them all awake.  It was a long day, but a fun one for sure!