First, we drove by the Olympic village and got a quick bus view of the "birdcage" and "water cube" buildings. During the drive, everyone introduced themselves... a nice group! From there we went to a Jade Factory, climbed a little bit of the Great Wall, and then had a group lunch.
Sonia loved the Great Wall climbing! She was so excited and such a trooper with some steps thigh high for her. The steps are very irregular heights with some very shallow and others really high. The weather was perfect at 70 degrees F, sunny, and clear skies. We made it to the 2nd "castle" (about a 40 min climb straight up steps). We then climbed down and walked a flat part on the other side with a really pretty view. Overall, great!
Nice lunch in another shopping building then back to the hotel. We took a brief swim in the late afternoon, quick supper and now are getting ready for bed. Sonia almost fell asleep in the restaurant ... but now got a 2nd wind with an ice cream treat. It's 7:30pm here and we'll head to bed.
The only rough point was when Sonia thought she'd lost her little stuffed cat "Muffin" after lunch. She melted down in the restaurant when we went to look for it saying the "cook was going to bake it into soup" and "she could hear it crying". I was able to distract her after a few minutes but she cried on and off on the short ride back to the hotel (so tired) only to find it was somehow stuffed into a little pocket on her backpack (not sure how it fit in there). So, Muffin is safe and sound and after a rest the world was good again. And, she now thinks the story of how Muffin was almost soup is hilarious!
Overall, for a really long first day, Sonia had a great day!
Glad to hear you had great weather for the Great Wall climb! That Muffin has been missing before. Hopefully Muffin stays out of mischief. I can't wait to hear about what foods you try. I don't think anybody wants to eat Muffin soup.
ReplyDeleteNoooo, Muffin soup yucky! This is hilarious.
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