Great Wall, Gymnastics, and Shopping

To be honest, I really would rather go to sleep right now than tell you what we've been doing, so this may not be my best work. :) I know all you blog-stalkers out there are wondering... so here goes.

First, I'm kind of sick. Thursday was sore throat, Friday we added a cough, and today was even better with stuffy nose and sneezing. I miss clean(er) air. :( Trying to not let it slow me down though...

Here's the run-down:

Friday

• We went on a tour to the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, and two shopping places. (Because what's a guided tour without a stop at some kind of factory where they tell you how something is made and guarantee the quality?) The tour was about 8 am - 5 pm. There were nine of us - all English-speaking. It was nice to be able to talk to people who understood us.
• First stop was the Great Wall. Holly climbed it, along with the guys in the group. I took the wussy way out and went with the cable car. I'm not sure I would've made it. The only downside to this was that we don't have a photo together on the Wall, because we didn't see each other up there. Hmm... photoshop?
• Then we went to the jade factory, where we also had lunch. They put all the food on a lazy susan in the middle of the table, and everyone shares. It's kind of nice. We were trying to figure out the proper etiquette for turning it. Do you need to ask the people across the table if it's ok? Also, you have to make sure your tea is far enough away that none of the plates/utensils hit your tea and knock it over. Holly learned this the hard way.
• Then we went to the Ming Tombs. This was a cool place, but kind of looked the same to me as the Forbidden City. Just lots smaller.
• Our final stop was the silk factory. They had some good stuff, but nothing I thought would fit well in my luggage. :)
• Our tour guide said that Tiananmen Square was the place to be to watch the Opening Ceremonies if you didn't have a ticket. So we headed there around 7. Turns out it was quite the crazy mob of people, and we don't think they ever really opened the Square - people were all around it though, and packed in very tightly. We decided to get out of there, and ended up in a bar/coffee shop to watch it on tv. We went outside and we could see the fireworks at the end.

Saturday

• Today was our first Olympic event! Yay! We had tickets for men's gymnastics at noon. Everything I'd seen/heard said to arrive early. You have to go through security, then get on a subway line that takes you to the area where the area is. So we got to security around 9:30am. No lines at all. And really nice people. 
• Once we got to the main Olympic area, we walked around a bit. This is the area where the National Stadium, Water Cube, National Indoor Stadium, Broadcast Center, and sponsor 'experiences' are. You can't get in unless you have a ticket to an event at one of those venues.
• We got to our seats around 10:15, and we were practically the only ones there. It didn't really start filling up till around 11:30. There were lots of empty seats, even though it was sold out. 
• We watched the men's prelims - and saw the US, Spain, Italy, and a few mixed groups. Gymnastics is hard to watch since there are 6 things going on at once. I found that I was generally watching the Americans.
• After the event, we went in search of the Olympic store. On our way, we saw the Today Show's setup - and TOM BROKAW!! He was just sitting there at the desk. I wanted to yell his name and see if he would come pose for a photo, but I abstained.
• The store is huge - but I think there are more employees than people. They follow you around. It's so annoying. I picked up some souvenirs, then we headed to McDonald's. It's the official restaurant of the Olympics... and the only one inside the Olympic Green area.
• We went to another part of town after that and did some shopping. I'm pretty sure I bought more than 7 lbs of souvenirs today, and my bag weighed 43 lbs on the way here. Hmm.
• Had dinner at a Thai and Indian restaurant. Random, I know. But good.

The days are long and exhausting, but we're getting to experience lots of cool things. Tomorrow we are headed to basketball in the morning, and women's gymnastics in the evening.

And a quick shout out to Abby... thanks for figuring out what wikipedia is (are?). Good job!