The Family O' Blevins

Although we were wondering if we'd be able to make it before we left China, we finally visited The Great Wall as one of our last hoorahs! Ethan planned the trip out with Kaho, an IBJ employee who was incredibly helpful choosing the site we would visit, the subway and bus connections, and what we should bring with us. So April 24th was our Great Wall day and after we took the subway to the designated location, we ran into some confusion with the buses and ended up taking the wrong number, which got us closer to the wall, but not close enough. From there we took a black taxi the rest of the way.

We chose to take the cable car up to the wall so we could save our energy for the wall itself. Built on a line of mountain peaks, the wall is a constant string of stairs, either up or down, inturrupted by towers. There is a beautiful view in every direction, and we visited on the perfect day. It was overwhelming to see such an expansive and ancient structure and although Ethan had been there about 10 years ago, we both were so glad we had made it important enough to go.

There are also a few pictures in the slideshow of Ethan's cousin Fred with Chloe on our last visit to Joan's in Beijing. The Engst's were so wonderful to us and we are so grateful for their help. We're glad we had the opportunity to get to know them better and hope we're able to see them again soon!