Days 2 and 3

Overall, things are going well, other than the fact that Gus woke up at 3 am Friday morning and did not go back to sleep.  This also meant I had been up since that time also.  I  had 6 hours of sleep in 2 days, but was feeling fine. I'm not sure why, but I'm happy about it.  After eating at our first breakfast buffet of the trip, which was pretty good, even the coffee, we toured Beijing all day.  We went on the Hutong tour, and we got to ride in a rickshaw.  Our driver was complaining in Chinese because we had Gus which made it harder for him to peddle.  Anyway, we learned about the local village.  We saw a Chinese Sharpei, of course it has really  bad skin. Then we actually spent some time with a man that lived in one of the homes there.  He was an artist, and we were able to buy some of his art work.  I bought a scroll for Milli's room with Chinese characters which represent strong spirit, which I know she has.  She's been through so much in her short little life and I just know she's strong.  The family there had cats, a dog, racing pigeons, and a very large cricket that was kept in a cage.  After that we went to a silk factory and learned all about the origins of silk and how it's used.  We ended up buying Milli a beautiful pink silk dress and Gus a pair of Angry Bird chopsticks.  Then we had lunch with our group.  We have 6 other families with us with a bunch of kids.  Gus is having so much fun hanging out with them because they are a little older than him.  John is not liking the local food at all.  I mainly had rice and a few veggies.  The tofu tasted terrible.  Gus had french fries.  We then walked to Tian an men Square and the Forbidden City. I had no idea how big the FC was and it took us two hours to walk through it without every going inside any of the 9,999 ½ rooms.  It was pretty impressive.  Gus was a trooper, because it was so hot and long.  After that we finally got back to the hotel.  The traffic is so bad that it takes so long to get anywhere around here.  We walked to McDonalds for dinner and a local bakery to buy some bread to make peanut butter sandwiches.  Gus and John were sleeping by 7:30pm.
This morning we slept until 6am, getting a little better.  We went to a jade factory.  I bought matching necklaces for Milli and I.  John bought a happiness ball, which I will remind him to hold when he gets crabby at home.  We then went to the Great Wall.  It's been something we have talked about for a long time.  It was pretty impressive, but the climb in the heat was very difficult.  Gus did great and went one step more than John and I.  I was so proud of him.  I was surprised by the commercialism of it though. There a numerous gift shops along the way and for some reason, someone dressed up as Mickey Mouse waving to everyone. I am not sure what Mickey had to do with the Great Wall but there he was. Someone in the group thought he was hallucinating because of the heat. It was also very dirty.  The odors here are sometimes overwhelming, with the squatty potties being the worst.  Think of a portapotty back in the states and multiple the smell by 10.  Yuck!  We only had 1 1/2 hours to spend there, so it was too brief, but we took a lot of pictures with our Illinois and Bears Tshirts on. After that was another lunch, and then to the Olympic Village.  We saw the Birds Nest and Ice Cube.  Pretty impressive.  I was surprised how many pushy vendors there are here.  They are in your face pushing their cheap goods.  So sad.  After that we went to an acrobatic show.  Gus thought it was the highlight of the day.  We didn't get back until 7pm.  We spent more time in the van caught in traffic over the last two day than doing actual touring.  There are so many people and cars here in Beijing.   In a city of 50 million, the traffic jams are crazy.  We are hoping our next stop will not be as bad.  It's a city of only 5 million. We leave here tomorrow morning.  It will be our last day as a family of three.