Beijing China - Temple of Heaven and The Great Wall

Dear Family and Friends,

You get what you get...

This is what we woke up to on our first day of touring.  We spent the morning touring the Temple of Heaven and the afternoon at the Great Wall.

The first two week tour was a family event.  We joined Chuck's sister and brother and their spouses for this part of the trip.

Below is Chuck, sister Carol and his brother Larry.  What a good looking bunch.

Because it was raining, we saw the Temple of Heaven from beneath our umbrellas.  The marvelous thing about this temple, besides being so pretty, is learning that it was constructed between 1406 to 1420.  

On the walkway to the temple we saw many local people.  These four folks were playing a card game.  Our guide said this is very common for locals to come to a park to meet friends and play games.  They were under a shelter so they were dry.

Even though our morning tour was very rainy, the afternoon at the Great Wall was perfect.  No rain, but low hanging clouds that made the wall seem as old as it actually is. 

It has been built, eroded, repaired and rebuilt since about 200 B.C.  Probably the section we saw was built during the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century.

Here is a group photo of our tour group at the Great Wall.

And, here is brother-in-law, Frank, sporting his souvenir hat. 

It was a wonderful first day.  We all went to bed very tired but very happy.

The next day we traveled to the Forbidden City and the site of the Summer Palace.

I will share about this is the next post.

Love,
Nancy