We spent the first two days of our trip in Beijing. Thr first day we visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, about an hour's drive from Beijing. This was especially fun because this section is acccesible by cable car - which we took advantage of on the way up but we walked the way down. The Great Wall was beautiful and provided many fun climbing opportunties for the kids. We learned that the wall was used as one of the first forms of information technology as the guards would communicate messages over long distances by sending smoke signals from one tower to another. We explored some of these towers which are still in excellent condition. At the bottom of the wall we encountered many, er, assertive vendors who REALLY wanted to sell their goods. Later that day we went to the Olympic park. There we walked around the Swimming Cube and the Birds Nest Stadium. We bought tickets to go inside the statium too. It was amazing. We walked right onto the field exactly where the Olympic opening ceremony and many of the track and field events were held last September. We saw some funny large inflatable mascots performing songs in front of a rather serious looking guard. We saw lots of serious looking security around ...but sometimes caught them smiling at the kids in our group. It was a great day and this video shows some of the highlights...
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