We made it to China. We left our house at 3:25AM on Feb 2. Our flight to China left Minneapolis at 6:00Am and we were supposed to be at the airport at least 2 hours before for international flights. We arrived at the NWA ticket counters at 3:50Am and they were all closed. Two other families were waiting also. So much for the 24 hour airport. A cleanup person said that someone might show up for work at 4:30. The line started to move then. Our gate was on the NWA end of the terminal. The security gates were also closed except to two on the other end of the building (We were told that they would open up at 5:30). So we hiked down and waited and waited to get through. We got through security just before 5:30 and walked all the way back to F40. When we got there everyone had already boarded the plane. We were the last ones, except the standby people. We left on time for Detroit, then Tokyo to Beijing. It was snowing in Tokyo and we left the gate 15 minutes late. We later found out that Tokyo had several delays and cancelations because of the snow. We got to Beijing about 9:30PM on Feb 3 (we gained a day plus Beijing is 14 hours ahead of Minneapolis). Jack, our driver was waiting for us and we got to the hotel at 10:30PM. We knocked on Kyle and Tiffany's room (two down from ours) to let them know we made it. Monday was a rest day for us. Kyle and I went to Tianamen Square and we all did some shopping. Tuesday was the best. We hired a driver to take us to the Great Wall and spent several hours there (check out Kyle's blog). After purchasing the tickets, we had to make our way through the gauntlet for vendors , trying to sell us everything under the moon. If we had a hat on, they would try to sell us another hat. Everyone had T-shirts. We ignored them and made our way to the wall.
This is our first up close look at the wall.
We met some other Americans and invited them to walk on the wall. Actually they were Kyle, Tiffany, Ellie and Didi.
Yep, that's us.
From here the wall looks like it goes on for ever. To the upper right of this picture the wall is in the un-restored condition of ancient ruins. The part of the wall we were on was restored in 1989.
We came across one of the guards at one of the watch towers, who was sleeping. Gosh, Didi missed the whole trip.
This is all of us at the end of our journey.
This is our first up close look at the wall.
We met some other Americans and invited them to walk on the wall. Actually they were Kyle, Tiffany, Ellie and Didi.
Yep, that's us.
From here the wall looks like it goes on for ever. To the upper right of this picture the wall is in the un-restored condition of ancient ruins. The part of the wall we were on was restored in 1989.
We came across one of the guards at one of the watch towers, who was sleeping. Gosh, Didi missed the whole trip.
This is all of us at the end of our journey.
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