We Made It!!!

What a journey this has been so far. What was supposed to be a one hour layover in Chicago turned out to be two hours which was okay since James upgraded to business class - we were able to hang out in the lounge at the terminal. Around 2:00pm, the called us to board to take off for 2:15ish. James and I were to say the least out of our minds to be sitting in an awesome section of the plane - (totally worth checking out last minute about upgrading). And sat we did...on the plane for about four hours! There was something wrong with the radar. Just as it was coming close for the pilots to become illegal, they got things rolling and all worked out. We finally left ground at around 6:30pm. We had a excellent flight - nice and smooth...but none the less, LONG. We arrived in Beijing last night (Friday) at 10:30pm. We couldn't wait to tear up our suitecases for our PJ's to get a good nights sleep. James slept, I didn't. So there I was in the middle of the night pie eyed and watching HBO in Chinese! I eventually fell asleep but not for long.

After breakfast we boarded a bus to go to a Jade Museum and then hopped back on to go to the Great Wall. I swear there had to be about 3,000 steps to the top, some incredibly steep. About half way up, I thought I was going to die - then we saw a tall blonde girl (Sweedish I think) walking by me with stilletto boots. Yes, that is right, walking up the million steps with spike heels! C'mon now...who in their right mind hikes in heels? Seeing that got everyone motivated to go up. It was worth the pain and agony...it was absolutely beautiful being way up there...It's really amazing to think that humans built this about 2500 years ago, without any equipment to help carry up the bricks. I honestly think going down was much harder than going up. Our legs became like jello. We were very excited to have experienced that journey. Let's see....oh, we also went by the stadium where the 2008 Olymics is taking place. There is this huge bubble type of building which is going to house the swimming pool and we saw the Nest which is another venue. Not sure what sport is taking place there. After that, I think we were all ready to come back to take a nap but no...we ended up at a theater for an acrobatic performance. That too, was awesome. These gymnists were bending their bodies in ways that shouldn't be bent. We ate dinner and now we're back in our room getting ready to sleep...its only 8:00pm but we don't care - We can't hang like we used to!

Catch you later...

by the way...two more days to baby time!