Morning ritual... Eliases updating their blog while Doug and I finish getting ready for the day
There was a wedding in our hotel today. The grand staircase was decorated beautifully.
Our group on the bus
More bus time
Our fearless leader, Kathryn
Cris, Kath, and Iva - next sisters' weekend will be in Beijing and we'll spend a couple days at this IKEA!!
Olympic Village - no time to stop but our driver did a slow drive-by
Olympic Village - The Birds Nest
More of the Birds Nest
Olympic Water Cube (where all the water events took place)
Birds Nest
Water Cube
This is where I first saw Doug climbing the Great Wall. Here he is on the way up.
Jade factory. The ball this artist is working on takes approximately 2 weeks to design.
Beautiful Jade
Did you know that all of the 2008 Olympic Medals were inlaid with Jade? I didn't either! However, this factory is the one that provided it.
Beautiful Jade Ship - the detail on this ship is amazing
Our first encounter with a squatty potty
This is how it works (of course, it's best if you do not have your pants UP when usng a squatty potty)
Views along the road to the Great Wall
Doug doing some mild exploring at the Wall (or at least that is what I thought)!!!
Great Wall
Doug climbed to that first tower on the left at the top of this picture
The Great Wall
More Wall
Views from the Wall
He made it!!!
That last step is a bear!
Beth & Doug at the Great Wal
Shawn, Kaycee, Grandma Jo, Beth & Doug at the Wall
Kaycee at the Wall
On the bus
The cloisonne factory and restaurant where we ate lunch
Cloisonne - painstakingly detailed work
Cloisonne factory
Unfinshed products next to the finished product. All Cloisonne starts off as a copper pot
hard at work
beautiful vases
Cloisonne
Cloisonne being fired
Cloisonne clock
Cloisonne warriors
Lunch
Yummy noodles - they were slipperty little suckers
This was a whole fish - head, tail, and all (yes all - I don't think it was gutted)
People live here. Note the tents - and it gets very cold in Beijing!
This guy was roasting chestnuts on the back of his bike and selling the at the Summer Palace
Stirring the chestnuts. How does he keep his tires from melting?
typical street scene - bicycles everywhere
This shot is for Doug
Dinner at Pizza Hut again - Yes JoJo, we actually ordered and tried the sheeps balls this time! They were quite tasty
Once again, Kaycee did not make it thru dinner
Seafood Department at the Wonderful - a market next door to our hotel
