Great Wall

(I apologize for the mass amount of "couple" photos in this post. You may want to skip it to avoid the "MP/LP show"). 

 The Great Wall was amazing. 

 Such a surreal feeling to be walking on something built in the 7th Century BC. 

I honestly, never thought I'd make it to the "Great Wall of China".

Never say never. 

 The section of the wall we walked was called the Mutianyu section. It was about a 1.5 hour drive outside of Beijing. We arrived early in the morning and for about the first 45 minutes we seemed to be the only ones around. Never what I expected, and such a great surprise!

We spent about two hours walking the portion you see (and some more behind us). Some parts were super steep, and we were almost on all fours crawling up the stairs. 

We ended our journey with a ride down. 

Such an incredible morning.

We made our way back to the city and saw the Temple of Heaven. 

 The Temple was visited by members of the Ming and Qing Dynasties for prayer ceremonies. 

 It was constructed from 1406-1420. 

In 1998 it was termed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

We saw these door-knockers all over China. 

I was quite smitten with them!

We spent some time walking the beautiful grounds. 

Our day isn't over yet, but this post has gotten too long. 

More to come on our afternoon-

xx,

Lauren