Great Wall/Hutong Lane-January 22

What an amazing day!  Despite the cold temperatures we braved the Great Wall of China.  We made it quite a way up the wall.  Of course my adventuresome husband decided to climb up two more levels than I could manage.  There was even a shop at the top where he bought a bottle of water (who would have thought there would be something like that up in the middle of nowhere.)  After the Great Wall, we boarded the bus to head to Hutong Lane.  This area is only accessible by rickshaw or bicycle.  We took a rickshaw ride, interesting experience, to a Hutong that housed 58 family members.  Basically it's several buildings that all share one central courtyard with many common rooms such as the kitchen and bathroom.  For lunch they took us to a Cloisonne factory and we got to see how they made this beautiful artwork.  Of course we had to buy a couple of things in the gift shop before we left.  We have just returned back to the hotel and are going to try and find something to eat for dinner.  Tomorrow we have our orientation meeting and then head out for a visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.  Adam and I made the remark today that it's hard to believe that we are here after all that we've been through to get to this point, and in just a few days we'll be a family of three.  (I'm having trouble getting the pictures to post. I am going to have to work with it and figure it out.)