Yesterday was the day.  The day I got to see the Great Wall of China.  I had to take a 1 hour train ride to Badaling, which is where the section of the wall is that I was going to see, and this time I got a seat.  It was interesting to hear the locals owww and awww as you passed other sections of the wall on the train.  You could tell that they really cherish the wall and it was an important destination for the locals to go see.  Once we got to Badaling I spent the next 3 hours walking the wall.  It was crowded, of course, but to my surprise sections of it were very steep.  The area around the wall was very green and unfortunately sort of foggy so it was hard to take pictures of distant objects.  However, it was a very nice day out there as it was not really hot.  I climbed up the wall about 4 towers on the north side, but the line to go further up was not even moving so I back tracked to the south.  It was less crowded on the south because the mountain on the south was not as tall.  The higher you got the more of the distant wall you could see.  From what I could see the wall went on forever.  I guess that is why it is the only man made object that can be seen from space.  I was surprised though at how short the wall was at certain points.  Some parts of the wall were only like 10 feet off the ground.  I always imagined it being much higher.  Although some parts were much taller.  It was an absloutely amazing sight to see and definitely worth seeing if you come to China.  I can't even begin to imagine how they built the thing and I only saw one tiny little section of the wall.  There is so much more ot if out there that I did not see.  To me it was the best thing I have seen in China so far.  Luckily I met an older woman who was raised in Shanghai, but has lived in Cleveland for the last 10 years, and she was kind of like my tour guide for the day.  She was able to translate for me and told me about the history of the wall.  She made an excellent travel campanion for the day.  She was here in Beijing on vacation because her daughter was part of a 2 week program at the University of Beijing.  So she was sightseeing during the day while her daughter was studying.  Her name western name was Katie.  She also told me that woman do not smoke in China and she still finds it weird to see women smoking in the US.  She just said it has always been that way, but occassionally you might find an older woman smoking at home (but that is still rare).  So I had a great day at the wall.  Unfortunately on the way back I could feel myself getting sick with a cold.  So I am spending the day resting at the hotel today so I can hopefully fell better for tomorrow.  Here are some pictures of the wall.





On my way back I saw my favorite street food vendor and I bought another one of those tortilla wrap thingies.  (Actually I had one for breakfast today too.)  I think the guy recognizes me because he starts smiling as I come walking down the street.  I love these things and I couls eat them all the time.  Anyways here is a picture of the guy and his cart which is attached to his bicycle.