Day 146

New life goal: see the many wonders of the world. There are many lists of wonders and it looks like I'm starting with the Medieval list. Jess and I started our day by meeting our tour guide, Steven (not his real name - not even his English name all of the time. Sometimes, he gets bored and changes it) and our driver (who's name we never learned). We started our day by driving an hour to a not-so-touristy part of the Great Wall. The Great Wall of China really is a must-see - it is beautiful, vast and the construction is so interesting. Also, you can toboggan down. You read that right - Jess and I took a chair lift up to the wall and tobogganed down (albeit slowly - we're not too big of risk takers. It was also nice to sit down after the steep steep wall we had just climbed). This is by far one of my favorite experiences I've ever had. Jess and I both got "I climbed the Great Wall" shirts when we got back to the bottom. After the wall (which was about an hour ride outside of Beijing), we went to the Summer Palace. My favorite part of the Summer Palace was the dragon boat ride we took across the lake with beautiful views of the Seventeen Arch Bridge. Once we had toured the Summer Palace, we headed to the Olympic Park from the 2008 Summer Olympics. We saw the Birds Nest, Water Cube and the Olympic Torch. I enjoyed that there were mini-birds nests on lights on the grounds of the park. We then retreated to our adorable boutique hotel for a shower and a rest before heading out to the Night Market where you can get almost ANYTHING fried on a stick (I do really mean anything). Somehow, we still had our appetites after this and headed to a different part of town for dumplings and steamed buns. I ate a steamed bun specifically for my coworker, Amy, and Jess took a picture of me to prove it!

After an exciting and exhausting day, we need to rest up for another crazy day tomorrow! I am looking forward to our site seeing, but, to be perfectly honest, I am probably most excited for the bullet train...