The GREAT WALL of China was absolutely the highlight of our trip. The construction was started before Christ, and finished during the Ming Dynasty in the 15 century. It was very steep at places. Here is Laurie and I.


 

Here we are on the Great Wall of China. It was a very surreal experience to be there and here is one of the many guards that are everywhere.
This is the beginning of our climb - we continue to climb to the third out building on this picture. Then we stopped and took pictures and Steve continued climbing up to the summit, whicch turns left on this photo.

 

Cydne and I in the cloissone factory, we bought hummingbirds for the Christmas tree


Giant Buddah at the Ming Tombs


This is where one of the Emperor's concubines was buried. They had no status, so were given very humble burial grounds.
Ming Tombs  

Inside the cloissone factory, it is an anciety chinese art form where solid brass is imbedded with colorful porcelain and then fired over and over 7 times, then sanded until it is smooth. Quite beautiful.


 

Chinese Musician

We loved this chinese musician

These are more pics from inside the Forbidden City, calledso because no one was allowed inside except the Emporer and his entourage.


 

An elderly Chinese man who was anxious to have his picture taken with us.
Steve and Dean with two hats they bought from sellers on the square. I think they got them for a dollar each The military presence is everywhere. Soldiers or quards in very public location and of course the very large picture of their beloved leader.

 

This is a motorcycle that has an exclosure over it. The "back seat" can hold two people. llMost people rode bicycles though

Here we are in Tianamin square, the largest outdoor square in the world. It is at the entrance to the Forbidden City, also the location of the death of so many students as they protested about 10 years ago.

This is a line-up of Chinese as they wait in line to see the body of Mao Se Tung, who died in the 70's. There is a large picture of him in the square and on all the money as well. His body lays in State in a glass casket in this building. 

China

Well Here are a few pictures of our trip. The first one on the plane, we were excited to be traveling to China. You can see the sunset out the plane window, and Cydne and I in Vancouver, ready to board the plane to Beijing

 

Here's Lizzy

 

more pics from Vatacan City

Here is Robyn and me in front of one of the Popes. It was fun to have Dan and Robyn meet us in Rome.






The inside of vatican city where the people gather to listen to the pope.


Also the ceiling of the sistine chapel. It's blury because we were not allowed to take pictures in there, so we did it on the sly and they didn't turn out very good. This depicts the creation, a very popular scene from ceiling.


 

More pictures from Italy and Greece

In many of the ancient cathedrals that we visited in Italy the walls or ceilings were covered in mosiacs. A mosiacs is a "picture "created using tiny tiles. These tiles never fade over time like paint might, so they are in their original beauty even thousands of years later



This is the leaning tower of Pisa. It was amazing to be there. It was a beautiful day and there were lots of vendors selling LV purses and other designer knock-offs.


This of course is the Collusium, in Athens, Greece. This building was built before Christ and it was amazing to see how huge it was. You can see that below the ground level there were rooms where the animals were kept, people lived, and the gladiators stayed before they were brought up on a lift to fight on the floor of the collusium.


This was one of the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The walls and ceiling were recently cleaned and restored, and they left a couple of dark squares so one can see how dirty and black it had become over the centuries. It was a remarkable experience to visit the Vatican and see these masterpieces done by Michelangelo. This wall is a representation of what happens to the spirit after death. I wish you could see in in detail.