Wow! Today was an incredible experience. We spent most of the day traveling to and walking along the Great Wall. Amazing!

Almost as great as the wall was the ability to finally skype with my family again. It has been almost a week and I had missed seeing them terribly. It was great to hear their voices, see their faces, and catch up a bit.

We spent nearly two hours in the van driving to the Great Wall. The traffic was horrible and we moved along at a snail's pace. Once we got there it was incredible. We walked up the stairs to the wall and then walked along the wall for several miles. The watchtowers, the views, the continuous wall in the distance...it was overwhelming. It is too hard to describe and I could never do it justice. It is said in China that you are not a real man and you haven't really visited China until you go to the Great Wall. It was really fun and something that I will never forget.

The day was rainy and that tempered it a little bit, we weren't able to go down the toboggan ride down from the top which I was really looking forward to. Then the rain really picked up as we left. On the way back to Beijing we stopped at the Olympic Village and were able to see the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube. It was pouring rain and I wanted to spend more time there, but we were soaked within minutes.

Instead of taking a walking tour afterward, because of the rain, we headed back to the hotel for an hour and a half. I got in a workout in the gym (it is only open from noon to 2 am--crazy right?) and took a shower. It felt good to work out some of my antsy-ness. I am itching to get home and see my family and get back to work, but trying to really enjoy these last few days.

Tonight we had a great dinner (almost lived up to Xi'an) with Peking Duck and Beijing Noodles. It was phenomenal and there was also a lot of vegetables--cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks. It was great. Then I went with a few folks to walk around and they did a little shopping. I did stop in to McDonalds, but only to get a coke with ice. It was fantastic.

Only one more real day here in China. This has been such an incredible experience. I am incredibly blessed.