Day 2 - Beijing/Chongqing

Well, we made it through another crazy day of touring. Today, we asked our guide to let us sleep in a little (we bargained with her, and said we would skip the zoo if we could get an extra hour of sleep...she gave us 45 minutes -- tough negotiator!).

This morning, we toured the summer palace (i.e. Camp David to the Chinese emperors). It was quite amazing. After that, we went to a factory where they made different types of vases, plates, etc. etc. out of copper, enamel, and other interesting stuff. It was neat to see, and truly amazing to watch what skills some of people have. After lunch, it was off to the Great Wall of China. What a truly amazing site!! It was a perfect day, as yesterday was very smoggy, so we really lucked out to get to go on a beautiful, clear day! Of course, that also meant that everyone else in China decided to go today...and they all converged on one set of stairs!! In fact, we've been brushing up on our Chinese, thanks to our guide. So far, we've learned "Hello, how are you," "Thank You," "No, I don't want any...stop bothering me!" and today, Darese learned "Hey, don't stop at the top of the stairs!!"
After the Great Wall, we went to a Jade factory. Jade is quite popular in China, and is a very beautiful stone. We learned how to tell the difference between fake jade and real jade, and bought some things there for Alex and Hannah.

This picture (left) is Darese and Olivia at the vase shop. Olivia is here with her mom, Daphne, who is adopting her third daughter from China. Olivia is 7 years old, and is very fun to be around!

Darese had more fun playing celebrity today. Lots more pictures at the Great Wall. Daphne's dad was also asked to take photos with people. Of course, I don't think it helped that I said "Hey look....isn't that Paul Newman??"

It's quite late now, as our plane from Beijing to Chongqing came in a little late. We got to the hotel around 11:30 pm (Sunday night here), and just checked in. The hotel is beautiful!! We met with our guide a little, and will meet with him again in the morning to go over all of our paperwork to get Hannah. Then, we will all go to pick up the children together at 3:00 pm Monday!! So, that's about 2:00 am Monday morning EST, for those of you who want to wake up and celebrate with us!

We're getting really excited. The crib is all set in our room, and I think we actually have everything ready to go. I'll try to post pictures here tomorrow as soon as possible. Note that I have internet in the room, but I can't actually see my blog site, but I can post to it. Weird. So, if anything looks off, you know why.

Hope everyone is well.....

Joe