The Great Wall; Mutianyu Edition

Not pictured; Mother

The Great Wall of China is about 5,500 miles long.  So even though we walked the whole north side the last time we went, that was only a fraction of the wall.  We visited Mutianyu, although we only walked one end of it, but that section was about the same size as the part we walked last time.  This section of the Wall is not as convenient to get to as the others.  The only way to get there is 1.  private car 2. Tour group 3. Taxi.  

While driving there, it drizzled a little and Mother was worried that it would rain while we're at the Wall.  And who knows how safe it would be to walk the Great Wall when its raining.  Luckily, by the time we got there, the drizzle was gone and there weren't any signs of rain.

Once we got there, Father bought the tickets.  Mother talked Father into getting an add on that allowed us to take the cable cars up and down to and from the wall.  It definitely made the trip up a lot quicker and less tiring.

Mutianyu is a lot easier to walk on since the steps are more even and less steep, save for a few exceptions.  It was less smoggy/cloudy today so the sun was definitely shining more and the breeze wasn't very strong, which made me hot very quickly.

Surprisingly enough, the Baby walked a lot!

Messed up stairs

We were about 3/4 of the way to the end when Mother decided she would stay behind (along with all the drinks).  The rest of us decided to go all the way to the end, which wasn't really the end.  The wall is just cut off at one part, and beyond that is not open to the public.  

Even though the end of the wall was near, since the rest of the wall was just stairs, it was still very tiring.  At the top, we took a long break, and the Baby insisted on playing hide-and-seek. The part of the wall not open to the public, but I got a good peek in at the original wall.

Some of the original wall

Eventually, we began to head back to the cable cars, but it began to drizzle on the way.  We hurried back and got to the car before driving back to the condo.