Day 1: October 27th

We arrived to our hotel, Beijing Jiajong Hotel, at 12:30am. We had a quick sleep because we had to meet our guide at 9am to go to the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall is amazing. Katie, Samuel, and I made it to the second tower up and stopped due to my bad knees. I couldn't believe how Samuel climbed up all those stairs and would have kept going if I had not stopped. Mark, Ethan, and Meg went all the way up!! Meg was a trooper!! Next we went to a government run Dim Sum restaurant. Inside this restaurant we got to observe Jade being carved into figurines. After lunch we visited a HuTong. A HuTong was an ancient city that the Emperors planned as residential areas in order to have complete power over the city. They all connected into the Forbidden city. This was a cool tour and we rode on Rigshaws through the city. We attended a tea ceremony and toured a bell tower while at the HuTong. We ended our day with an Acrobatic show at the Beijing Chaoyang Theater. They were amazing! We came home completely worn out but it was a fun day. Poor Samuel fell asleep after lunch and didn't wake up until we got back to the hotel. Climbing the Great Wall did him in!! It was fun watching Samuel meet people because everyone who talked with him he would tell, "My friend, Levi. In China." Of course they had no idea what he was talking about but he was so excited he had to tell everybody. He will be happy tomorrow when we finally meet Levi!!