Day 2 Update - Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square

Wow, what a day! We began with a delicious breakfast buffet (you have never seen one like this in the US) and ended with the lowering of the Chinese flag in Tiananmen Square.

We started out on a bus ride to the Ju Yong Guan Pass - Great Wall. During the bus ride, Stephen, our guide, shared with us a lot of information about the city and about the great wall. At one point, our host Jenny told us that in only one other of her University groups had all the participants made it to the top. We were determined to be the second ones to do so! Jenny told us that we had to make it up many, many stairs and we would pass four towers on our way to the top. Her advice to us was "one step at a time, pace yourself, rest when you need to, and drink water." She also reminded us of Chairman Mao's dictate that no one is a hero who does not make it to the top of the pass. So, we were challenged and off we went. Above is a picture of us at the bottom of the pass, before we started our climb.

What a workout it was! As you can see from the picture, we were all bundled up as we expected it to be cold and get colder as we went up. There were many, many, many steps - most were steep and many were uneven. Some were only a few centimeters high and others as many as 30 centimeters high. We had to take many, many rests and used those to take pictures. This picture shows you only a PART of one of the sections we climbed.

Along the way we made many stops. In fact, we were getting such a good workout that we began to realize that we may have dressed too warmly and we began shedding layers. Gloves came off.... Jackets came off.... Hats came off.... We began to think that we might not make it, but we remembered Jenny's advice and took it one step at a time. We stopped offen to take pictures showing ourselves and the unbelievable scenary.

The great news is that we all did, at last, make it to the top of the pass! Yes, every last one of us! When we finally got to the last tower, we had one last surprise - a VERY narrow staircase leading up to the top. Here is a video clip from the top.

What goes up, must come down and so down we went. It was definitely easier than the way up, but by no means easy. On the way down, some of us stopped to purchase "medals" commemorating that we climbed the Great Wall. Now if we only had 7 more, we'd be just like Michael Phelps.....

After a bus ride back into the city and lunch, we headed off to the Forbidden City, home of Emperors, Empresses, eunuchs and concubines. Because it was getting late and because we wanted to be sure to get tickets, we went in from the back entrance. The Forbidden City is surrounded by a moat and a very high wall. The back entrance is the servants' entrance and leads into the main living space. We saw many courtyards, gorgeous buildings, statues, and many huge cauldrons that used to serve as resevoirs for water in case of fire. These two pictures are of one of the buildings that has been restored.

After we went through courtyard after courtyard, we finally came to the last one and saw Chinese Army soldiers conducting a drill. They were preparing for the flag lowering ceremony which takes place at sundown across the street in Tiananmen Square. A very nice site to learn more about the Forbidden City is at http://www.thebeijingguide.com/forbidden_city/index.html.

We crossed the street (underground) and went into Tiananmen Square. On either side of the square sits The Great Hall of the People and the Chinese National Museum. We were just in time for the lowering of the flag.

After a quick bus ride, we were back at the hotel. Jenny and Steve told the group about several excellent places to get a foot massage for our aching feet! We all went our own way will reconvene for our first business visit tomorrow.