Beijing Day 3--Great Wall

The career development delegation had no meetings today so they joined the "guests" for some touring. The Great Wall of China was the highlight of the day. A bus picked the delegation up at the hotel and about one hour later we were hiking the Wall. Kathy and I took the left side with two career delegates, Cathy McCormick and Dottie Evans, and found this trail steeper but with better views. We hiked for about an hour huffing and puffing our way up the steep walk-ways. There were not that many people on the Wall today and the weather was nearly perfect: the sun was out all day and it wasn't too cold. Here are some photos of the hike. The only blemish to the outing was the fact that we were usually accosted along the way by vendors selling Rolexes; postcards; silk hankerchiefs; etc. After the hike our tour guide, Gerard, took us to lunch at a restaurant in a Friendship Store, which, according to Gerard, were outlets where foreigners and locals alike could purchase consumer goods in China. Now they are almost an anachronism but some do carry local crafts and other specialities. The delegates shopped after lunch and we went back to the hotel. Lucy, our city tour guide, then took me to the National Library of China, of which I will discuss more later.