25 August 2012

Beijing China – The Great Wall and a short visit to the Olympic Park





































We have all seen pictures and heard stories of its magnificence and the experience of being there and reality is more interesting than pictures and it is absolutely something to have the experience of being there.

It is an hour and forty-minute drive from Central Beijing.   There seem to be two choices to get your first and most convenient visit.  One is more popular and more flat.  The other is less  crowded and all warnings about a workout were true.  Add 88F and some humidity and it made for a sweaty but amazing afternoon. 

I hit Mutianyu at the peak of the heat and got the added bonus of a open chair lift ride up and a toboggan sled ride back down!  No flat stretches at all in this zone of the wall.  You are either going steeply up or steeply down and you have to reverse to get back to your starting point.  And the step height ranged from 3 inches to 2 feet – so it was lots of little steps or rock climbing – WOW hadn’t thought about it being filled with steps. 

And on the return trip back we sat in the Sunday afternoon traffic snarl – every afternoon, and morning, has one.  There never seems to be a day off from traffic.  Or time of day for that matter.

We took a side trip by the Olympic Park on the return as well.   Having just been to London it was fun to remember 2008 and see some of the structures up close and personal.   The park has a great presence and many of the buildings are large and magnificent.  It deserves more that a drive by and a few hops out of the car to take some shots – another trip I guess. 

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