Finally! The Very Great Wall.

Monday we made it to the great wall at Mutianyu. It was about 70km from our hotel. We had an awesome taxi driver who took us out there and waited for us while we hiked. We decided to do it this way rather than pay for an official tour. Mutianyu is a restored section of the wall that is set-up for tourists. Its not a wild section of the wall which would be my preference but there were cable cars that we rods to a high place on the wall and hiked from there. It was quite crowded but the further out you walked the fewer people there were. Ted and elsa went further afield, up the 500 step hike to a glorious view and relative quiet. I enjoyed a rare hour to myself to wander the wall at my own pace.  It felt very luxurious! There were people from everywhere walking the wall. All languages all the time. I loved just walking along and hearing snippets of conversations in so many different languages! We walked around for about 2 hours. It was hot and somewhat foggy but there were welcome breezes blowing through the intermittent openings along the wall. It was a fabulous day and truly one of the wonders of the world that can only be truly experienced in person.