This weekend is an interesting time to be in Beijing since many things are closed or have limited availability. The government has cancelled some flights at the airport and only cars with odd license plates may drive on odd-numbered days, even on even days. All of the changes are being tested this weekend as Beijing prepares for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Because of these changes, the section of The Great Wall that we visited when we were here for Grace's adoption is unavailable. We drove to the Mutianyu section outside of Beijing today and it was great! This time we got to take a cable car part of the way and both the view and the Wall were incredible!
After our Great Wall visit, we had a traditional Chinese meal for lunch. Yummy! Grace is always content if rice or watermelon is on the menu. She lucked out today and got both!Next, we visited the government-run pearl factory. Our guide, Sherry, gave a gift to Grace of a beautiful pearl bracelet. She loved it and couldn't stop admiring it or telling everyone how beautiful she is. Cute girl!
After shopping for pearls, we visited the Summer Palace. Last time that we were here, a special event had closed the lake. Today, we were excited to see boats on the water and we even took a dragon boat ride!
We left the Summer Palace and headed to the government-run silk factory. We had lots of fun shopping and checking out the beautiful silk comforters, shirts, dresses, pajamas, etc.
A Peking Duck dinner hit the spot as we finished up the day! We're getting to know the other families traveling with us and they are a fun group. On Monday, we will all be splitting up as we go to our different provinces to meet our sons and daughters. We are the only family going to Jiangsu and then, we will meet up with everyone again in Guangzhou! It was a full day and we definitely won't have a hard time sleeping tonight - we're beat!
As we were talking with our folks tonight (Skype is amazing!), we were realizing that our Saturday is coming to an end and we only have one more day until we get Peter. It's hard to believe that the day is almost here!
Check out pictures of today's sightseeing here.
Good night.
