Beijing, The Great Wall

Beijing is a city of 16 million people and 2 million cars. Even though the Wall is 45 miles outside of the city, the pictures reflect the pollution... a foggy haze in the background of all the pictures, especially in the city. We visited during the October National holiday so that the Wall is mobbed with people. The Wall is nearly 4000 miles long (as far as New York to Milan) and if one looks closely at the picture, you can see it snaking over the hills. It was built primarily in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD). We walked up the left side of the Wall, because it is steeper and, therefore, less crowded. During our walk we were asked many times to pose with family members. One young woman put her arm around me and then put her head on my shoulder! I'm not sure why we were asked more than other Westerners on the wall, but I did wonder if we would make it to the top. Two young men who were in high school talked to us for some time about our impressions of China and asked questions about our home and families.