Walking the wall

I guess bikes have age limits now.  Especially when you want to rent one.  

The City Wall of Xi'an according to Wiki:

The fortifications of Xi'an (Chinese: 西安城墙), an ancient capital of China, represent one of the oldest and best preserved Chinese city walls. Construction of the first city wall of Chang'an began in 194 BCE and lasted for four years. That wall measured 13.74 kilometres (8.54 mi) in length, 12–16 metres (39–52 ft) in thickness at the base. The area within the wall was roughly 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi). The existing wall was started by the Ming Dynasty in 1370. It encircles a much smaller city of 14 square kilometres (5.4 sq mi). The wall measures 13.7 kilometres (8.5 mi) in circumference, 12 metres (39 ft) in height, and 15–18 metres (49–59 ft) in thickness at the base.^[1]

The State Council of the People's Republic of China, stated on 4 March 1961, that the Fortifications of Xi'an be included as a heritage site under national protection. On 28 March 2008, China proposed the Xi'an Fortification be included on UNESCO's World Heritage List, where it is categorized as a tentative listing.^[2]

We wanted to rent a bike to ride around the whole City Wall of Xi'an, but you have to be at least 15 to ride, so we skipped out on that.  We walked on the wall for a few hours, looking at the inside and outside. The inner part of the wall looked much older because a lot more of the old buildings are preserved.  

Afterwords, Mother and the Baby stayed in the hotel because the Baby fell asleep and carrying him around when he's awake is hard, but carrying him around when he's asleep is no fun for everyone involved.  Father took the rest of us to meet with one of his employees, her husband, and daughter (who's around the Baby's age) to see the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.  We somehow made it all the way to the top of the Pagoda, getting a nice view from the top and feeling the slight sway.

The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

View form top

View from top

Later that day, after the Pagoda, we had dinner with some more of Father's employees, trying a lot of the local dishes.  Every region in China was their own distinct flavor in their food and I could tell.  It was great dinner, with good company.  We unfortunately forgot to get pictures, we were busy eating, the kids playing and the men drinking like they were in college again.  Father could not keep up with the hearty daily drinking men, but he certainly tried!  Ha ha...I really liked what we ate and was full by the end of the night. 

The next morning, we rode the train once more, only this time to Changsha, Father's hometown.

View from our condo