Today has been another amazing day in Beijing. We woke up refreshed after another peaceful night with our Zachary. He has yet to have a bad night or even a truly bad moment, and trust us, he has had his share of opportunities. He truly seems to have an amazingly positive disposition and he continues to pick up English words at a rapid pace. The only issue that we have had is that he seems to have slightly sensitive skin and is prone to break out in heat rash. The Chinese do not seem to believe much in air conditioning, so we have been sweltering in our hotel room and pretty much everywhere we have gone. The air quality in Beijing is quite smoggy at best, so we have both found ourselves very thirsty on a constant basis.

We ate breakfast this morning and met our guide, Michael at 0900. We drove out to a section of the Great Wall that is just outside of Beijing. There was a lot of history and a lot of beautiful scenery in the area. As the wall was quite steep and the steps were very uneven, Julia, Zach, and I elected to stay on the very lowest portion (so at least we could say that we climbed on the Wall), which had some interesting little shops and some shady places to sit. Glen and Lynda climbed up to the first landing and came back down. Climbing up to that point, however, granted them the status of "Hero".








After the Great Wall, we went to a jade store and restaurant where we ate a traditional Chinese lunch in several courses. Since today was Lynda's birthday and tomorrow is Julia's, Michael surprised us with a birthday cake (complete with a lotus flower candle that, when lit, unfolded, revealing several more candles located inside) and a bottle of wine. After eating, we shopped in the jade store. Zach got loads of attention from the women working in the store, and we have come to the conclusion that the little guy is something of a ladies' man.





Our final stop of the day was at the Olympic Village. We walked the village area for a little over an hour, getting a closeup look at the Birds' Nest stadium, the Water Cube, and the cauldron tower that held the Olympic flame. After that, we came back to the hotel and are regrouping in our room. Matt ventured out briefly to a local store to buy a hat as he got very slightly sunburned today and we are going to the Beijing Zoo tomorrow.