Visiting the great wall

"The Journey of a Thousand Miles must Begin with a Single Step" unknown author

What can I say about the great wall? In one word, it is IMPRESSIVE!

We started our day with very cold weather, bundle up with layers upon layers of clothes, scarfs, hat and gloves. Beijing air is cold and dry. There is also this clould of haze just in the air. Polution, smog, haze? You can see it on my pictures. However, the city is very clean and there are men and women always sweeping and removing gargage on the streets.

After lunch and another hour drive up on the bus, we arrived at the Great Wall. It is very steep, going up and down. Someplaces don't have steps, just enven surfaces . It cover miles and miles and miles of brick, uneven, unpaved sections of the road. Steps are of different sizes and shapes and some are very broken so watch very carefully where you step your foot on. We rode the cable car up to a very steep section then follow up by foot about 1-1/2 mile up. Emily did great! That girl can walk and I am very impressed. She did it all the way up and down, just like the adults and laughing and holding onto the rail or our hands. Again, the view was cloudy and the sun just peak thru the clouds. See photos here. After or adventure today, we got to our room about 6pm and just crashed in bed. We had plans to go our for dinner byt neither one of us could move and we just slept till 2am. Yes, getting up at 2am seems the norm these days. We fixed ourselves some ramen noodels and went back to bed. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Summer Palace and Temple of Heaven. Yes, more walking around!