Day 2

Today was great. We went to the Great Wall and it was freezing but incredible! We didn't expect it to be THIS cold - the low was 9 degrees (!) yesterday - so we stopped in a little store and Lisa bought some scarfs. Tom kept looking for a hat, because our tour guide kept telling us it gets even colder and windier up on the wall. After much discussion, all convinced him to get this one:

We were still freezing!!
In traditional Chinese, the Great Wall literally translates to "long city or fortress." It was built and maintained between the 5th and 16th centuries to protect the the Chinese Empire.

It stretches about 4000 miles, but tourists in Beijing most often visit the "North Pass," which was used to guard the capitol. The wind is so strong up here you'd swear it could knock you over.

Absolutely breathtaking.

Our guide.


Everyone wants to take a picture with us! We apparently look very American.


We had lunch and then went to the Summer Palace, or Yihe Yuan, which means, "Gardens of Nurtured Harmony." Here you can see Fo Xiang Ge, or The Tower of Buddhist Incense.

The Palace has several buildings built over several dynasties: The Cloud-Dispelling Hall, the Temple of Buddhist Virtue, and the Sea of Wisdom Temple. There are trees here more than 500 years old. Unbelievable. The Kunming lake had frozen over, and they're not in this shot, but we saw some ice skaters.


We took this in the Chang Lang, or 'Long Corridor.' It's an outdoor corridor more than 2,388 feet long and was first built in 1750.

The corridor is divided into four pavilions, each one symbolizing a season. Its decorated with stunning artwork that covers the ceiling and support beams - everything from epic battles to landscapes (14,000 paintings in all!).


Really inspiring. We loved it. A fantastic first day in this country.



Ryan helped us Skype with Danny and Aidan when they first woke up this morning - they were tired, but it was so good to see them. Ryan told us about what Aidan tried to tell her at breakfast yesterday in this email:

"Yesterday morning I was giving Aidan breakfast and he was trying to tell me something, but I couldn't figure out what. He was pointing to Tommy's picture and then his food and was frustrated that I didn't know what he was talking about. Finally I realized he wanted to share his food with Tommy and he said he would share everything, including Bosco. It was very cute!"