Day 2 ( in pictures)

Day 2
Friday, July 4  2014

Today was our first full day and I was so excited to get out and see Beijing. The first thing on our agenda was the Great Wall of China. From Beijing we rode about an hour of the city. After parking, we got on a shuttle which took us up to the beginning of the Great Wall.   Here I am right as we started our hike:

Here are few more pictures taken during our climb up the Great Wall:

I was so in awe as we went up the wall. You see these things in books, but to witness them in real-life is sometimes hard to even comprehend. It still isn't quite real. I saw one of the Seven Wonders of the World!! It is too exciting!

With that said, let me say that climbing the wall is no easy feat. It is a rigorous and serious work out. The incline was the most steep I have ever seen. Some of it wasn't even stairs - just an incline. I was out of breath and stopped for water often. I wore my toms for this adventure, which was a bad choice. Real athletic shoes are necessary for the Great Wall. Although I did see Chinese women climbing it in heels! Crazy!

My group was super popular with the locals. We had our picture taken with too many chinese people too count. They weren't shy about stopping you to ask for a picture, and I was happy to oblige :)

You can read more about the Great Wall here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China

Next was lunch. We just went to a small food court. Our handler, Vivian, helped us choose a dish. I got spicy pork with vegetables.  When I chose it I asked, "Is it spicy?" Vivian said "yes". I told her that was fine because I like spicy food. She said "You sure!? It is the MOST spicy!" I told her it was okay and she looked scared for me. Turns out she was right. The dish was super hot, but I still liked it. 

After lunch we went to the Summer Palace, which was the summer holiday home of many Chinese emperors. Read about that here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace

It was beautiful. The best part was that we had an actual tour guide. He spoke English very well and told us lots of interesting facts that most people don't know. For example, one of the emperors had over 3,000 concubines. They all lived with him (on the property) and they performed a lottery each day to see who he would spend the night with. At the end of the tour he told us that he learned all his English from watching "Friends", and thus his English name is Joey. It suited him perfectly:

 Here are a few pictures from the visit:

me and my fellow teachers, and the 2 chinese "handlers" in front of the marble boat. It is a marble "boat" built on the lake where the emperor would sit and enjoy the breeze and pleasant weather.

This was a young girl in the Summer Palace posing for pictures with a professional photographer. I was excited to see someone in traditional Chinese clothing and I think she is so pretty.

The final trip of the day was to the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics Park. Here I am in front of the "Bird's Nest":

There were many "merchants" selling small kites at the Olympic Park. They would string them all together - 20 or 30 or  maybe more: 

After a long day we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. I had chicken nuggets and fries - but with a Pineapple Pie. It was just like an apple pie, but with pineapple instead. It didn't sound that great, but was DELICIOUS. 

Off to bed for another day tomorrow!