The Great Wall of China

And now, for the piece de resistance!  The gods smiled upon us and washed away the smog and gave us four beautiful, clear days in Beijing.  The first day was the morning of our planned day at the Great Wall.      

We started the day with so much excitement because we knew we were in for a gorgeous day on the Wall.

I had assumed that there would be meandering pathways, but every single step is an actual step that can vary from a few inches to about a foot in height.  

We dreamed it and we made it!!

Papa Louie keeping the adventures coming.  He said he never thought he would actually walk on the Great Wall of China.

Quite a thrill.

This is Kyle catching up to Mary and me after dropping Dad off at a landing where he could hang out while we hiked.  It shows how steep the wall can get.

Mary wanted to venture off on the unfinished parts of the wall.  So we climbed through this port hole.  We went as far as we could before the overgrowth took over.  It was a little scary looking down the side of the pathway--quite a drop down!

Kyle and Mary LOVE the Great Wall. :)

And on it goes . . . . 

The other real highlight of our trip was just spending time with Kyle and Mary in their home and in their environment.  I loved watching them speak the language so fluently, negotiating prices with the sales people, engaging with people wherever we went.  They are truly in their element.   I enjoyed their hospitality, watching Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend" (a great 6 hour movie),  great conversations with dad about his life growing up and his experiences in WWII.  We loved going to their branch that was so thriving and feeling the camaraderie and spirit of the gospel on the other side of the world.  The Chinese people were so darling and engaging.  Dad really felt a connection to them and was truly sad to leave.

To China We Go

Kyle and Mary moved to Beijing, China for a three year assignment with the U.S. Embassy.  Dad was anxious to go visit them, so I decided to be his travel buddy.  Little did I know I was in for an adventure of a lifetime.


If we were going to fly all the way to China, we decided to do it in Style!!  We had so much fun flying business class being totally pampered.  Flying there and back was so much fun as we read the same book and watched some of the same shows.  We dined, we slept, we lounged.


And that was just the beginning.  Kyle and Mary treated us like royalty.  They were so thrilled to have dad in their home and be able to pamper him themselves.

Right off the bat they treated each of us to a one hour foot massage.  Heavenly!  And timely.  We were going to be using those feet like crazy.  The city is so large, that once we left the apartment in the morning, we didn't return until after dinner each night.

Beijing is beautiful.  Even the freeways are lined with potted flowers.  I especially loved the parks.  They are works of art and such a relief from the crazy city traffic and high rises.

I loved this man's artwork on the sidewalk.  He was "painting" with water--fleeting, but so beautiful.

We all tried our "feet" at reflexology on the stones.  It really was invigorating.

I joined in with a group of dancers - you know, when in Rome . . .

The retired people really have mastered the art of enjoying themselves.  This man is a 75 year old retired university professor who comes to the park each morning for exercise.  There were people playing mah jong, playing music, card games, hacky sack, and dancing all throughout the parks.

The adventures continued every day.  These are totally random and out of order, but here are a few of the places we visited.

We traveled rickshaw style through the old hutong neighborhoods.

The bell tower (aka "clock").

These are the drum and bell towers in the old hutong neighborhoods.  Before the days of clocks, they told the time, called people to war, etc.  The drum tower is the tall building behind us.  It is a "one story building."  Once you enter the door you have to climb up 65 very steep stairs to the drum room (where the red balcony is).  Dad didn't want to miss the drum ceremony, so he braved the stairs and enjoyed the views of the city.  Little did he know that was just the beginning of all the feats he would accomplish on this trip.  We were truly impressed!

We enjoyed riding along in the river boat along the canal to the Summer Palace.  Back in the day, it took the Emperor a full day but with an engine it was an hour and a half ride.

I loved the significance and imagery in China.  Pagodas are like "acupuncture" for the earth.  The cement boat at the Summer Palace represents the yin and yang of fluidity and the immovable.

Aren't we "statuesque"?


We enjoyed some great nights on the town and amazing food.

We feasted at the elegant Capital M on the patio overlooking Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City.

We had a WILD ride on the rickshaws of Mary's neighborhood friends that drove us to a great hidden little noodle restaurant.  These pictures are at the beginning of the ride.  They don't show us dodging through crazy downtown traffic.  It was more exhilarating than any ride at an amusement park!!  Dad's line, "This traffic Kills me!!"  My line, "Poor choice of words, Dad!"

We loved the Chinese Acrobat show.  We were on the front row and were holding our breath that every amazing feat worked and nobody landed on our laps.

After the show, Kyle's darling assistant and her husband arranged to have their driver pick us up and take us to dinner.  Yet another amazing meal.  Then we headed off to a beautiful 7 star hotel to the lounge area that overlooks the Olympic Park.  It was beyond stunning.


And I haven't even mentioned the Forbidden City.  Pictures don't do justice to how large it is.  That was the day of endurance for Dad.  After trekking the Forbidden City, we were dropped off at the wrong end of town for dinner.  After dinner, it started raining and we couldn't get a cab during Friday night traffic.  We ended up walking to the subway and taking 4 connecting trams, going up and down stairs.  Again, pictures can't do it justice, but the subways are SO packed that they even have people to help PUSH you into the car.  As we were leaving the final car, I was actually air lifted by the crowd and my feet didn't touch the ground until I landed outside the car!!   Dad and I were hanging on to Kyle and Mary for all we were worth since we had no idea where we were or how to communicate.  Dad never complained and by the end he loved the adventure of it all.  We were rewarded once we finally got home with ice cream and a movie in our pjs.  Ahhhh.

Bartek and Bellagio

I haven't posted anything about our dream trip to Italy yet.  Candice has been doing a beautiful job of going day by day of our trip on her blog (mikecandi.blogspot.com).   I'm just going to start randomly with the last day and a half.  I'm thinking about Bartek today because we just received the news that he and Frederike are expecting their first child!  Bartek lived with us for his and Michael's junior year in high school and quickly worked his way into our hearts.  We were so thrilled when he was able to fly over last minute from Germany to meet us in Lake Como!

We fell in LOVE with BELLAGIO!  What a quaint, charming, gorgeous, scenic town set right on Lake Como.  These are the views from our hotel rooms at the Hotel Belvedere.

The village was to die for.  We loved the main little cobblestone street that went through the town.  The pictures where we seem to be sitting right in the street are from our first night out for dinner at a wonderful restaurant.  They had a big basket of pillows out on the stairs where you could sit and wait for your table to be ready.  It was a great people watching spot.  It was near the end of this dinner that Bartek walked in and made our trip complete.  We all started cheering.  I'm sure the other diners were wondering who this celebrity was.

I don't know where Robby is heading off to in this shot!!

 "brothers from another mother"

Looks like Rain!

I had seen pictures of the gardens of the Melzi Villa.  It was a short walk down to the edge of town.  It was even prettier than the pictures!  We only had about an hour to walk around but we enjoyed every minute of it.

 Everyone got a little camera happy.

 Go Candice!!

Lovin' on Auntie "Staciatella"

In the afternoon of the second day we headed off with this Italiano on his beautiful wooden boat he had made from special wood from Venice (and about which he was very particular!!) to get out on the lake and see all the beautiful villas along the way.  Our destination was the villa used to film the ending scene of the 007 movie, Casino Royale. The NAME of the villa is VILLA DEL BALBIANELLO - long story--don't ask--just another Adrienne-ism for the books!!  (Just don't stop a tour guide in the middle of her tour to ask what the name of the villa is unless you know how letters are pronounced in Italian and you have your glasses on so that you can type it into your iphone.  If she decides to come type it in for you, make sure she doesn't have long acrylic nails that can't function on an iphone.  Flustered, she then went on to say, "Okay, so, after THAT distraction, I was about to tell you . . . ")  Anyway, the grounds were BEYOND stunning.  I didn't want to leave.  Luckily we squeezed the end of our visit in just as a storm kicked up.  We had a rainy ride back to Bellagio and arrived just as the sun came back out.

I mean, really!!!

 We fell in LOVE with this loggia.  Notice poor Nicole on the far right - fighting morning sickness.