Beijing

Monday, Oct 10 – Beijing, China
Today was the highlight of the trip so far. We were up at 5 am taking a three hour bus trip past Beijing to a section of the Great Wall. When we first arrived the fog was thick but our luck stayed with us. The sun came out, the fog burned off and it became a clear beautiful day. The portion of the wall we started hiking was brick and had been restored. It was just 600 years old, but after an hour of climbing, we arrived at a much older section that was worn, narrow and slow going. That’s where we decided to turn around and head back. The hillside foliage was turning bright reds and yellows which made for a spectacular sight. Following the climb, we headed to a local hotel for a traditional Chinese lunch which included mashed potatoes covered with blueberries in syrup along with other more common Chinese dishes. Once back on the ship, we opened the bottle of champagne we received for winning the Newlywed/Not So Newlywed game show and toasted another fabulous cruise. Tonight we meet our new dinner mates. More than ninety percent of the passengers disembarked today and a new batch arrived as we were out climbing the Great Wall of China.