While the day started out fairly well, Brittany lost ground quickly and had a really difficult day.  We still dragged her around to different places, but she threw up twice and was pretty much miserable all day long.  We started our day out at the Olympic complex.  Here is the seven star hotel that the dignitaries used.  We were told several times about where Bill Gates worked, where he stayed, etc.  He must be some sort of Chinese hero!

Next door to the hotel are some of the many, many, many, many condo’s and apartments that are everywhere in Beijing.  Our guide, Ting Ting, told us that Beijing is the largest land area of any city in the world and that it is home to 16 million people.  By the time the day was over, that wasn’t hard to believe.

Brittany and Kelly crossing over the busy street to the Olympic Park.

It wouldn’t be the Olympics without McDonalds, right?  Right?

Here we are in front of the Aquatic Cube where all the diving and swimming competitions took place:

And the gymnasium where all the gymnastics competitions were held:

No trip to the Olympic Park would be complete with out seeing the Bird’s Nest!

Notice how happy Brittany is to be here.  She had not started throwing up yet … yet…

This is the building that Microsoft had it’s headquarters in for the Olympics.  It is pretty cool because it looks like a circuit board, although this picture probably does not do it justice.  Like a lot of areas down in the Olympic Park, much of the building is empty post-Olympics.

All the streets in the park were blocked off, but the traffic signals and the pedestrian crossings were all working.  I found that a little strange. 

Anyway, we left there and started towards the Great Wall of China.  Our guide, Ting Ting, gives us a running dialogue on everywhere we go and everything we do.  She seems incredibly knowledgable, but at the same time she could just be blowing smoke and we would never know!  I believe this was around the point that I asked her if she had any brothers or sisters.  Seriously.  Hello????  She looked at me for a second and then send “one child policy.”  Of coarse … I’m sorry … I am just an idiot!

We passed a park and the people were all flying kites.  This picture shows none of that!

I guess it is some sort of Chinese requirement that if you go to the Great Wall, you have to stop at the Jade store first.  This place is ghastly over priced, but was interesting.  Here is the entrance:

Ting Ting is very sweet and has been concerned about Brittany the entire day!

They have an area where you can watch people carve and polish the jade jewelery.

The main sales floor looks pretty impressive … I’m sure that the pricing is reflected in that!

The sales lady went through and showed us all the different types of Jade and showed us how to differentiate between real Jade and counterfeit Jade.  We still didn’t buy anything!

Kelly and Taylor pose with one of the statues out front!

After we left, it was off to the real highlight of the day … the Great Wall of China!

Very cool, huh?  Kelly and Ting Ting talk through the plans as Brittany isn’t really up to making any long walks!

There are all kinds of support buildings at the part of the Great Wall that were used for barracks for the soldiers who worked on the wall.

Since Brittany isn’t going up the mountain, Kelly stayed down at the base and Taylor and I went for a walk!

Tay and I didn’t want to stay away from Kelly and Brittany TOO long, so we only went about half way up.  However, that was pretty high.  You can see the structure just to the left of Taylor’s head?  That is were we left Kelly and Brittany.  They were hounded by Chinese people who wanted to take their picture.  Even with Brittany holding her plastic barf bag!

Tay and I went into one of the guard outpost areas:

This monument that Taylor is standing in front of was written by Chairman Mao and it basically states that if you do not walk up the Great Wall, you are not a hero!  Taylor and I are heros!  Although Taylor did say that in reality the hero of the day was Brittany!

That is pretty cool, huh???  We learned a lot about Chinese history today!  Here is a picture of the entire group at the base.  Note the plastic barf bag that Brittany has!

On the way out, everyone had a partner but me!

After leaving the Great Wall, we went down to Tiananmen Square.  The ride there was enjoyable as we passed many different areas of the city.

Once we get down to Tiananmen Square, I was impressed with two things: how small the actual viewing area is that you always saw on TV and how massive the entire square area is.  Ting Ting said it is the largest city square in the world.

Here is the are with Mao’s picture:

I took this following picture because this is were the generals and political leaders would sit and watch the military parades come through.  The seating looks like hard benches.  I would have thought they would have had a little more comfortable seating!

This is the actual square and this is the part that was so impressive.  Apparently, it can hold one million visitors at one time.  In the background is Mao’s tomb.

Here is the National Museum which, if Brittany would have been feeling better, would have been a great place to spend a little time.

There are several monuments on the square:

As is the case everywhere, the police have a strong presence here.  We were told that there are more police in this area than anywhere else, so this is the very safest place to be in Beijing at any time of the day.

Here is the actual Tiananman Gate.  There were nine gates throughout China, of which only three are still standing.  The Chinese people believed that when you walked through the gate, it gave you good luck.  So there were different gates for different types of good luck.  This one is special because it was the gate that the emperor would pass through when coming into or out of China.

This is the Arrow House.  From here, the army would post it archers who were charged to protect the Tiananman Gate and it stands about 200 yards in front of the gate.

Here is another view of Mao’s tomb.

Here is the Chinese Parliament building.  It sits directly across the square from the museum.

There are more pictures of various buildings on the photo album entitled “China 2010” on this site if you would like to view them.  But, this post has probably gone on long enough!  It probably is going to take forever to come up on people’s computers!

We went swimming tonight and Brittany has been doing well.  Lets keep praying that continues into tomorrow.