Day 4

Jade Factory

                                                 Flat Stanley -   Great Wall

                                            Posing on the Great Wall of China!

                                                  Walking down the Great Wall.

                                                 

     Birds Nest-posing with people who constantly ask if they can take a picture with us!

                                                    Water Cube in background.

                                                                 Tea House

Hi again from Beijing!  Today we started the day with another great buffet breakfast.  Our guide met us in the lobby at 9:00am to begin our day.  Our first stop was to a jade factory.  My mom was in heaven- she loves jade!  We saw how many of the sculptures were made and then polished.  Nana bought a necklace, earrings, a bracelet for Emma, and three figurines for each of the years the kids were born.  After the jade factory we headed for the Great Wall!  What a beautiful sight!  The mountains were breathtakingly beautiful!  We took the cable car up to almost the top of the wall.  Once there, we walked the rest of the way up.  Boy was it steep!  Poor Nana had to go back down and wait for us while we finished climbing to the top! After taking quite a few pictures- and yes Myrna- one with Flat Stanley, we headed back down the mountain in the cable car.  After touring the wall it was time for lunch- KFC for the boys and Subway for the grownups!  Nothing like being in China and eating KFC and Subway!  We loaded back into the van and headed back into the city. We stopped and looked at the water cube and birds nest.  These were built specifically for the Olympics.   We then made a quick stop at Starbucks and then went to a Chinese Tea House.  We were seated at a table with many different types of tea.  I believe we tried 5 different types in all.  It was such a wonderful experience.  We really loved the presentation!  After purchasing two types of tea we headed to the acrobatic show.   It was spectacular!  The performance included balancing acts, bicycle acts, motorcycle acts, and tumbling.  It was awesome!  Last of course was dinner.  Our guide knew just where to take us!  A restaurant with any kind of western food we wanted.  We ordered steaks and pasta!  Yummy!  We are finally back at the hotel and ready for bed!  Tomorrow we will leave Beijing and head to Emma's province- Guangzhou! I will post the pictures in just a few minutes!