Guess where we were this morning?  We spent all morning hiking the Great Wall, well part of it anyway.  It's a beautiful area in the mountains about 40 minutes outside of Beijing.   The Great Wall is about 3000 miles long all the way across China and only 10% of it is still standing.  It took over 200 years to build the whole thing!  Lin says that the people who died building the wall were buried inside it - so they call it the "longest cemetary" in China.  Kinda morbid isn't it?  

     

As you can see it is very steep so I didn't attempt to go very far.  Yes, I am getting lazy in my old age, I admit it.  I seriously thought about attempting it, but after hearing that it takes two hours to climb to the top I had to re-think that. 

I did make it up to the first level, though.  If I ever reached the top I don't think I would have been coming back down.  Rachel said it was too bad they didn't have a banister to slide down.  Wouldn't that be a ride?   Since it was a holiday today there were SO many people at the wall.  Some you really had to wonder what they were thinking because I saw women in skirts and high heels climbing the Great Wall.  Ouch!!  

The rest of the afternoon we spent at the Summer Palace.  It's 700 acres of lake and gardens, for the Emperor only of course.   I could have spent all day there - it was so gorgeous and peaceful.  I can see why the Emperor chose all the best places for himself!  Lin told us that the last Emperor was only a child when he came into power so his mother was the one who actually ruled the country.  She placed him under house arrest in one part of the palace for the rest of his life.  So no matter how beautiful, a prison is still a prison I suppose.  How sad!