Great Wall and Pizza Hut

I ran out of steam for posting more last night.  My sincere apologies.  Yesterday after the Cloisonne Factory, we visited the Great Wall of China.  It was breathtaking in its beauty.  We had seen it before five years ago under a blanket of snow, but yesterday was clear and bright.  It seemed all of China came to see the Wall.

We rode cable cars up the mountain and were treated to spectacular views of the valleys below.  The rocky pathways were uneven, so Lee, Laura and Scarlett didn't walk around too much.  James did make it to the top.

The bus ride to the Great Wall was CRAZY!  We must have seen at least 5 accidents (none were serious) and 100 near misses.  I have to say that drivers in Beijing are some of the best drivers I have seen anywhere.  They are very intent on what they are doing and not multi-tasking like we Americans tend to do.  They also do not drive as fast.  However, they use their horns - a lot - to let each other know they are coming through.  Lanes do not seem hinder these drivers, they are merely suggestions.  The Beijing driver uses the entire street - both directions.

One the way back to the hotel, our bus was blocked from turning wide into a narrow underpass from the Great Wall area.  Our driver was literally centimeters from scraping the wall and a couple of totally stupid people who tried to squeeze through the underpass with us.  He gained a hearty round of applause for his fine effort.

After coming back to the rooms, we ordered Pizza Hut.  The best tasting food I have had since we left home.  We then crashed and burned for the evening.