Skip to main content

Day 4: China

Day 4 was glorious. We slept in a bit, got ready, mosied downstairs for our delicious breakfast. We connected with some friends to make our day plans. This day was filled with shopping, shopping and more shopping. Now that we had a taste of what China offered, we were ready to return with an agenda. We returned to the same market we stopped in the night before, spent a few hours then enjoyed McDonald's lunch. Yummy. We've never been so excited to see the big golden arches--only after 3 days of authentic Chinese food :) Chris and two other Dads took the four kiddos to the Beijing Zoo while the ladies returned to the stores. We stopped at the Pearl Factory as well as the Silk Street Market. I think I liked the first stop the best, but great deals were to be found all over. It was truly a challenge keeping in mind our baggage weight allowances. I actually purchased 2 additional bags to drag our stuff home! My Mom wishes she'd bought more and already wants to return to China ;) There is nothing like a great bargain!
The kiddos loved the zoo, but sadly it closed at 5:00. They rushed and rushed and rushed, taking in the aquarium and other animals as quickly as they could. Due to the time constraints, they didn't even manage to hit the Panda bears! I am not sure how one can go all the way to Beijing and NOT see the Panda, but they didn't.
We all faced our challenges hailing a taxi for our return trips to the hotel. A couple of taxis drove right on past us as we attempted to flag them down whereas Chris had several drive by him. Frustrating. We were assured by our lovely tour guide that taxi's are friendly to Americans, but we couldn't help but think otherwise.


Evidently the tiger area was pretty smelly!
Anyway, we returned to the hotel, shared stories, examined our loot and packed our bags. It was a good day :)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A post

You wanted it, you asked for it, so here it is. A post. Hopefully this post will satisfy all your desires. I am not writing about the apple of my eye, Claire, but of the other apple of my eye--reality tv. I love it! Right now I am getting my fill of Big Brother. I have even lured Chris into my dark place. He mostly watched last season because Dick was such a jerk, but Chris is hooked. He's a dedicated viewer once again this season. Sadly, he was a fan of Matty who was kicked off a few weeks ago. I don't think I have a favorite. I find them all to be so obnoxious, yet I watch. Go figure. I obviously need some more excitement in my life. Girls who wear butt showing shorts, screaming matches, verbal abuse, crazy eyes, back stabbing, boys running around in their colored tighty whiteys (if tighty whiteys are colored, are they still called tighty whiteys?)---all in one episode! It is a gold mine. My second can't miss show is Housewives of Orange County or New York City. I really
12 comments
Read more

2 weeks...

As I write this, my house is being cleaned and not by me. This is my favorite day of the week. There is nothing like going home to a clean house and smelling the bleach to know it is germ free as well. This is my second good day in a row! I took the day off yesterday. Claire didn't have school due to Fasching (German equivalent of Halloween--minus the door to door trick or treating), so I gave Mya the option of hanging out with us as well. She took some convincing, but later said she had a great day. I must admit that I was focused on giving my back a much needed break, so my morning consisted of napping and laying on the couch. Not my best parenting in action, but it did wonders for the rest of the day. We met Chris for lunch, then returned home to enjoy the sunshine before the girls' swimming lessons. It was in the 50's yesterday, absolutely gorgeous! It really is hard to believe that we made it through the entire winter with no snow. I think it snowed possibly 2 days, b
10 comments
Read more

Progress

I used to be prompt about scrapbooking in Claire's album. After seeing my sister's pictures piled up three children later, I was determined not to have the same fate. I am sure it is difficult for some of you to believe, but since Claire has been born, my free time has been limited. Really, it has. So, our pictures are finding their way into piles too--5 to be exact. However, I am thrilled to say that I finished (ok, they aren't completely finished, but nearly. I only have journaling to do.) six pages. Yes, that's right, I said SIX!! It was a major accomplishment. Here they are for your viewing pleasure. Only 5 more months left to get through....any volunteers? Jessica???
11 comments
Read more