The Wall

After all the words posted here, we thought you might like to see some images for context. For Julia's b-day we took a trip back to what was for us, Xian's most memorable memory from our one week trip here this summer - the 8.7 mile wall that surrounds the central city. It is a wonderfully restored, beautifully decorated, completely intact relic from a previous era and a site that is, in our view greatly underappreciated. They have bicycles that you rent (along with motorized tour buses and three wheeled taxis) for 100 minutes that allow you to traverse the wall and stop off at the restored guard houses or other vantage points to view life in the city below. With all the space on the wall and the relatively high (around $6 per adult) admission, there are never many people up there, so you really get the feeling that you have the wall to yourself. It is a nice little work out, especially with a series of hills you have to overcome to make it to different sections of the wall, but with all the eye candy, it makes for a great hour and a half tour. So from our eyes to yours, here are a few photos of our celebratory trip to the wall. The first photo is a context shot, looking down one of the smaller sides of the rectangular wall. Then we have the girls taking their turn on one of the two seaters and us at a rest stop.






The guards were assembling for an event at the south gate while masses of Chinese were assembling near the north gate at the entrance to the train station.











The Chinese crowds never cease to amaze us Nebraskans... And I leave you with this final shot of Patrice and the birthday girl pedaling past one of the Chinese new year decorations.

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