What a great day!

Needless to say that the time difference screwed up our internal clocks for sleeping or lack of but we managed to bypass it and make it thru today (as I type this Madison and Gilles are both out for the count! lol).
It was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky and not too cold at all! We were more surprised to see the sun since back in '04 when we were here in August, even though it never rained, we never saw it! It gives you an idea on how bad the air quality was back then...perhaps the Olympics in 2008 made a change or maybe it is because we are here in the winter? Either way, I like it! :)

After breakfast we decided to head outside and check out the sites, pick up some supplies for us and of course some Tsingtao. :)   We ended up walking until mid afternoon (saw some interesting street meat) and then headed off to the Olympic Pavilion. Two words for the Bird's Nest and Water Cube...absolutely amazing! If anyone is heading over to Beijing, this is not to miss! I am so happy we decided to go do this especially since our Agency did not have it included in our travel agenda. By the end of the day I had taken 140 photos! Beijing is such a beautiful city, old meshed in with the new. There was so much to take in and loved every minute of it. Tomorrow is the Summer Palace, I am just hoping that we are lucky 2 days in a row for weather.

 Red Guards

A street dancer

 Entrance to a market

 Larva and Beetles

 Starfish, Seahorses & Scorpions

 ...and I thought Keswick had huge Spiders!

 Olympic Pavilion

 Water Cube

 Bird's Nest

Kathy, Scott, Gilles and myself
(Madison was asleep)

Perfect ending to a perfect day! :)