Beijing

We have arrived at our final destination!
Today, we had a very busy day! We started by visiting the Forbidden City which was extremely impressive and bigger than we had imagined! We then moved on to Tiananmen Square which was also massive and full of police and guards which gave it a rather regimented atmosphere. We were going to see Mao's pickled body but soon changed our minds upon seeing the queue which must have stretched for more than a kilometre! Amy insists we will be back on Monday... Then we headed to the Temple of Heaven (again on foot!) and this was slightly further from Tiananmen than we thought! The Temple was set in beautiful grounds, which were peaceful and a welcome escape from the crowds of the Forbidden City. After walking all day, we decided to try out the brand new metro system which was fantastic!! We paid just 20p for a journey which can be as long as you want it to be! Definitely using it on Monday when we hope to visit the Summer Palace and the Olympic Park :). Great Wall tomorrow!

The Great Wall was fabulous. We walked with our guide Lucky from the Jinshanling section to the Simatai section. The views were fantastic- you could see the wall stretch away over the ridge of the mountains into the distance. It was a 10km walk up and down steps but it was very relaxed as we kept stopping to rest in the sunshine (more for Lucky's benefit than ours!).
In the evening we went out with a few new friends for our Beijing Duck dinner which was delicious. We tested the buses which are even cheaper than the metro! We were the last to leave the restaurant and we witnessed all the staff eat their meal together- they were super fast!

Today we went to the Summer Palace and the Olympic Park. We were using the metro again, and of course walking. I think we exhausted the girl who joined us (she is now having a lie-down in our room.....) who didn't understand why we walked a few k to the metro instead of taking a taxi! The Summer Palace was lovely. 3/4 of the grounds is a large lake. we also found the 'long corridor' which is said to be the longest in the world, stretching over 728m. It was a sunny day but much colder- lots of Chinese people stared at George in her flipflops (don't ask)! The Olympic Park was very grand and we were impressed by the Birds Nest stadium but overall we thought it was a bit of a waste. Plus the same two songs were played on loudspeaker over and over again!
I was disappointed not to get to see the pickle today but unfortunately we ran out of time. I'm not sure George felt the same way... We are both looking forward to going home but at the same time it's sad our tour is now over.
:(

We will post photos of China on here when we get home.