Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Trina, Nick, Jesse, Catherine and Faith!
Please email us......
November 17, 2006
This morning we met up with Walt and Tammi, the other couple that arrived last night. We had planned to go to a carpet store to shop for handmade Tibetan carpets, then either to a flea market or to the Summer Palace, and wanted to invite them along. They were game, so we set off at about 10:30 when Miranda came by to pick us up.
The carpet store was a disappointment. They had some nice ones, but nothing that really caught our eye. So we had lunch at a German restaurant before deciding what to do next. There was a Hard Rock Café nearby, so we went in to get a gift for a friend that lives in Turkey.
Next stop was the Summer Palace. There were hawkers everywhere, but we managed to buy only some postcards of the Summer Palace and Beijing. The palace grounds were huge! There was a giant pagoda on top of a hill that we tried to climb up to but it was closed off. We got a lot of great photos, but we can only send in six, so we decided on a couple of the guardian lions and the pagoda we couldn’t reach.
We stayed at the Summer Palace until it closed, and then grabbed a taxi to the Chinese Acrobat show. Trina had read about it and really wanted to see it. This turned out to be the best decision of the day. The show was excellent. We couldn’t believe some of the things these people were doing! If anyone gets a chance they should go see this show. You won’t be disappointed. Just remember to buy the mid-priced tickets. We sat right in the middle of the theater, center-stage. The pictures we are sending of the show are only a portion of what we took. We also bought a DVD of the show, so the kids can watch it.
Tomorrow is the group tour of the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Great Wall. We love and miss you kids, and will send you some more pictures later. Three days until Gotcha Day!
