Yesterday was Day Two of our journey to Madison. After getting settled in, we started a full day of sightseeing in Beijing. We visited TianAnMen Square, the Forbidden City and The Great Wall.
TianAnMen Square is the largest square in the world and can accommodate about 1 million people. It is a huge open area with a few monuments and statues honoring various people. TianAnMen then enters into the Forbidden City. The familiar picture of Chairman Mao overlooks the square and is the entrance to the Forbidden City from the square side.
The Forbidden City is a very large series of buildings that used to be home to several of the Chinese emperor's. It is about 125 soccer fields large with several different areas and gates leading to different areas of the city - there was even an outdoor basketball court there. A lot of the city is under renovation in preparation for the 2008 Olympics and it was very interesting to see the renovated parts next to sections still under renovation. The newly renovated sections are very ornate and colorful with lots of gold leafing. The un-renovated parts have been faded over time, show several layers of peeling paint and are less vibrant than the renovated sections. Because of our schedule, we were only able to walk from one side of the city to the other, pretty much in a straight line. We did not have time to see inside any of the buildings or to see any of the rooms. Even that took us a couple of hours to walk and at times it felt like the Forbidden City was the never ending city.
From there we went to lunch and were served the world famous Peking Duck. It was a traditional Chinese lunch with the highlight being the duck. It was very good and today we even got to use forks!
After lunch we drove about an hour and a half to The Great Wall. It was so exciting to get to see this icon in full living color. The reality of being in China and halfway around the world really set in. We felt like we were standing in a postcard. No, we did not climb to the top - there were only two in our group that did, and one of them was a thirteen year old boy. We did go up to the first observation tower and decided that was far enough for us. The steps were very steep, unlevel and have worn with time so that they are somewhat rounded. It made it very difficult to go up and coming down was even worse.
After the Great Wall we got on our bus to drive back to the city of Beijing and drove by the Olympic Village and several of the Olympic stadiums, including the one that will host the opening and closing ceremonies. It was very cool to see. Also on the way back, our guide Dennis, walked us through Children's Hope orientation and prepared us for the reality that we will be getting our daughter in two days. It was a chance for reality to sink in once again that we will actually have Madison in our arms so soon.
For dinner, several of the families in our group decided to try out Pizza Hut after having had traditional Chinese food for the last two days. It was a welcomed familiar meal to us and gave us even more opportunity to talk with and get to know the other families in our group.
Today we depart Beijing and fly to Hefei, the capital city of the Anhui province. This is where we will get Madison sometime tomorrow morning! We can't wait!!
All in all God is good and we have had a wonderful experience here. We can't wait to share all of the beautiful culture from Madison's home land with her someday. We can't believe that this long journey will see our prayers answered tomorrow when we hold our baby girl in our arms. Once again thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We truly can feel them here. The next time we get a chance to blog we will have a little one on our knee.
God Bless,
Angie and Mike (headed to Hefei)
P.S. - Everyone loved our Madison shirts.
