A Great Wall, Indeed!

Last week we took a family trip to Beijing. The crowning glory of our trip was seeing the Great Wall of China. We went to Muntianyu to see it, a 90 minute drive from Beijing. We knew we were off to a good start when we came upon this coffee shop. Yes, we did stop for a cuppa joe!



The kids knew we were off to a good start when they came upon a camel to cuddle up to.



The wall was built in 7th Century BC and maintained through the 16th Century. It was built to protect the northern border of the Chinese Empire from Mongolian attacks.



Here's one of the guard houses. It is said that the wall was guarded by more than 1 million men.



It's approximately 4,000 miles long. The average height of it is 25 feet high. Its width ranges from 15-30 feet wide.



This picture says it all. Mia loved trekking along the wall. A fantastic place for kids to run free. Aaron & I loved that the wall followed the ridge line of the mountains, sometimes climbing extremely steep slopes. The cherry blossoms were in bloom and we were out hiking in the hills with our family, it doesn't get any better than this.



Oh wait, it does get better! To get down, you can take a toboggan on a metal luge course.



This was the best part for the kids.



Easily, our best day in China.