After such a busy day 2, we were grateful that our day 3 agenda was a bit lighter. Up first-- the Great Wall. Since it's nearly 90-120 minutes north of the city, we left bright and early and arrived around 11 am.
We visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. We took a cable car up ... which was more like a rudimentary ski lift. I'm not gonna lie- the cable car was a little bit scary. Once we got to the top, we spent about 2 hours exploring and climbing the wall. When Dan and I were here in 2009, we saw a different section of the Wall. It wasn't quite as high or scenic...but it also wasn't quite as steep. Geez- at some points on this trip, the Wall was more like climbing a ladder - nearly vertical!!
Somewhere along the way, an Asian woman stopped me "Hey- we saw you yesterday!" Ummmm... huh??? ( my thoughts : There are 21 million people in Beijing - and millions of visitors to the Great Wall. For the life of me, I have no idea who you are or why you think that you know me. ). Well, as it turns out- she did know us! They were the adopted Asian girls from Texas that we met, albeit very briefly, while in the entrance line at Tiananmen Square the day before. I still think it's weird that they recognized us. And, I think it's equally odd that we were at the same place at the same time two days in a row. Weird. And kinda cool. Later that morning, Sara and I got to be the celebrities on the Great Wall as we posed with another naive family for a picture.
We took the ''toboggan ride" down the mountain from the Great Wall. And yes, it's in quotes for a reason. Toboggan ride is a bit over stated. It was more like a toboggan experience or a motorless go kart. It was pretty uneventful. Dan and Shawna had a share a toboggan. Several times, I saw him pushing himself to keep going. So it wasn't really a thrill ride. It was simply a way down. The alternative? Taking the cable car DOWN the mountain. Ummmm... no way.
On our way back to the hotel, we made the obligatory visit to the jade factory. Then headed out to see the People's park and the 2008 Beijing Olympic stadiums.
The birds nest and the water cube look just like it did on TV many years ago. Now the area is filled with civilians who come to relax around the area. It was a beautiful night so many young families filled the park to enjoy the evening.
Back at the hotel, tensions ran high as our tired, weary and almost hangry group had to navigate dinner on our own.
Let's go out for pizza
No. Let's stay here at eat at the hotel restaurant.
But I want pizza. Do they deliver?
I don't want the buffet. How about McDonald's?
Do they even have pizza in China?
Ultimately - we decided to go out for pizza and Map-quested the closest Pizza Hut. We were feeling pretty confident for the first 7 minutes. Then it became clear -- there wasn't a Pizza Hut, or anything familiar, on the route.
So we headed back to the hotel and relented to eat at the buffet. But the buffet was "closed" because of a private function ( the Novartis team of all things! ). So again-- no food. Hungry people. Limited options.
We did pack snacks for the trip. So how 'bout cheese and crackers for dinner? Pringles? Or even Peanut M&Ms ? We considered them all. Ultimately, we DID find another Pizza Hut not too far away and went there. Even though it was 830 PM. And we had to order from the picture menu again.
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