the Great Wall of China

{China day 1.......November 7th}

Our first stop was The Great Wall of China.

Some little facts from our tour guide:
~The Great Wall of China is the largest man-made structure in the world.
~It is one of the seven wonders of the world.
~Over 3,000 people worked on the Great Wall for the Qin Dynasty, but it is believed that thousands have died during the construction of all parts of the Great Wall.
~Those that died while constructing the wall were "buried" under it or near the wall.
~The Great Wall is called the longest cemetery.
~We were "heroes" for trying to climb, not for finishing.

This was a common occurrence.
The kids had several pictures taken, and I was also asked to be in a few.
 

 

 A rest stop at one of the platforms

This was my view the whole climb.
The kids said I was slow.
I was.
I was winded, and dying. (Should have been exercising before the trip)

This was where we ended up.
We would have continued on up, but we thought we were going to run out of time and miss our bus.

Going down wasn't an easy feat as one might think.
The steps were uneven and steep, and you also had to navigate the "climbers" coming up.

Several areas along the wall locks were placed on a chain or a fence.

At this stop, I offered to take a couple's picture, and they offered to take ours.
It really is such a small world.
Turns out the couple was actually was Southwestern Kansas.

to be continued,
Tonya