We did it! The Ayers family conquered the Great Wall of China. Unlike the previous time when Jeff and I had made the same trek, when it was hot and muggy this time it was cold and windy. Even the aerobic workout of the climb did not get one nice and toasty warm. Within the first ten minutes of the climb Jeff and I were showing our age, when we got to the steepest part which is actually almost vertical, the kids were still going strong so it pushed Jeff and me on. James did not let his fear of heights conquer his emotions and plodded on like a trooper. It still was an invigorating feeling knowing that not again we had done something not many people will ever be able to have the chance to do. Unfortunately there was much more smog than I remembered last time so the panoramic views were not as spectacular as before but still took your breath away when you thought about the history of what this wall stood for 500 years ago to the Chinese People. On the way back from the Great Wall into Beijing we went pass the Olympic stadiums (The Cube, Birds Nest, and Olympic Village). There were many tour buses and Chinese people, but all one could do was get out and walk around the Birds Nest, in fact they are in the midst of tearing it down to be replaced by a shopping mall, which is actually quite depressing that they don’t want to relish in the beautiful event that took place in the stadium that brought many eyes upon the spectacular beauty of China, but instead want to move on to the next thing. You see that much around China, they are in rapid building modes but then nothing moves in so the building remains empty and starts to fall apart after 5 or so years. This was especially apparent in Lanfang – it actually was quite a depressing area and looked more like ghost town at times than a growing city