The Great Wall Trip

Left at O'dark thirty or 3:30 am

Got to the airport with plenty of time.
Good thing too, because we were at the furthest terminal.

Alexander gave the western breakfast on the plane a thumbs up.

Off the plane and onto the airport express subway

Switched to the yellow line.
It was really empty in the middle of the day.

Friends told us the way to go see the Great Wall on your own
was to take the subway to the new train line that takes you right to
BaDaLing.

It was a very nice ride and definitely seemed like the way to go.
Especially since there are so many of us regular taxis are hard to use now.

They are building more walls on the way to the great one

Starting to see it!

Off and walking

We stopped for ice cream and cold water because everyone was warm and tired.

Really though, we couldn't have asked for better weather.
It was just a little on the warm side, but sunny clear skies outside of the city.

We made it!

The only really troublesome thing we had on this trip was
Abigail took kind of a bad tumble on what we thought was a easy part and got really sad for a while.
Nate and I took turn carrying her the rest of the way.
We're so thankful that she's OK though.

Big and steep!

The boys really did love it

So Andrew noticed first that the defense side is much different than the other side.
I think he liked imagining he was an archer.

Up, up, up!

On the hardest part Nate carried 2 of 3 backpacks and Abigail,
while I walked behind Alexander to make sure he didn't fall.

Andrew and the camera are straight up, the staircase is almost.

Big boys and dad hiked to a really high guard tower

Made it!

Mom and the two littler ones stopped to rest and drink water here.
The steps in this part were so steep they were almost to my knees.

Abigail fell asleep for a little bit and was much happier when she woke up again.

Going down, down, down

Ice cream and cannons make everything better

It ended up being a really good day to go,
because there were no crowds.
We really didn't get stopped for pictures much more than around town here.

Andrew liked this might warrior

The little sign says room for rent.
Looking for a place to stay close to the great wall?

We let Abigail choose the video for the train back.
Watching Care Bears Movie II.

Getting off the S2 train and walking to the subway.
Abigail says, "This is not pinker!!!"

Starting to feel the crowds

We found downtown rush hour

Overall our impressions of the big city were much better than the last time we were here.
Subway at rush hour with overtired kids would still be better avoided though.

Off the subway and walking to our airport zone hotel.

Almost there!

This was a really nice place.
Kids were excited for carpeting.

We had to rent two rooms because the max persons allowed in each was three.
But these beds listed as singles were about the size of a queen bed in the states,
so it worked out really well.
Our first day was completely packed.

They gave us a complimentary breakfast, saying they were trying to encourage good reviews.
Boy will we give them one!

Alexander discovering his very favorite thing: yogurt with fudge sauce.

He gave some to Abigail and it was her favorite thing too.

You can still see the little bump on her head, but now she won't stop smiling.

Chocolate waffles, bacon, sausage, and eggs!

Thumbs up!

One thing we didn't try. Not quite authentic I think.

They also had lunch meat, cheese, and bread in different places, so Aaron ate a sandwich.

Been about three years since any of us had waffles.
They even had good coffee.

We ate so much

They even had a salad bar area, so Nate and I each ate a big salad too.

I think we each ate enough for two or three big meals compared to a regular day.
I can only imagine all the stories that were told about us at the end of the day.

Kids thought the elevator was kind of cool

View out the window.
The second day was a mix of city smog and thunderstorms.
Good thing we were able to make it out to the wall during the good weather!!!

Reminder where we are

At the airport...
I think Toilet Drinking Water should be separated by more than a coma.

Because of our last trip experience, we scheduled our return flight for later
on the second day, to give us a second chance to get out to the wall if the
first day didn't work out.
But since it did, we just got to the airport really early.

We all watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang together

Waterfree might not always be better

We did find a little play place for the kids

And of course the kids got hungry again

We got them McDonalds since is isn't usually an option for us, and they were thrilled.

Unfortunately, the thunderstorms delayed our flight.
And then we ended up sitting on the tarmac for even longer.

So tired

We finally made it all the way back at 1am the second day.
Success!
We made it all the way to the Great Wall and back (without a tour!)
in about 46 hours.
And now we're tired.