First Full Day in Beijing

Surprisingly, we weren't feeling too jetlagged this morning when we woke up. It's hard to believe we are here after so much anticipation and waiting. In some ways, it's hard for both of us to get into "seeing the sights" mode because all we can think about is having Jennifer Rose in our arms on Sunday. But we are also excited about learning more about China and really experiencing the culture. So we all really enjoyed the half-day trip we took to the Summer Palace. The place is really huge and although there were a lot of tourists (mostly Chinese), it didn't detract from the impressiveness of the place. I'll try to post some photos later (Jim came up with a possible solution to the fact that the blogger site appears to be blocked - by posting mail to Flickr). It was hot but not unbearable and we enjoyed walking all around the huge palace grounds. The scale of the place is immense and I was really drawn to the colorful images and beautiful architecture. Hopefully that will come out in the photos I post.

After we got back from the Summer Palace, it was late afternoon and we went to a really amazing Chinese restaurant near the hotel. It was such good food we really enoyed the atmosphere (extremely elegant). Some of the more adventuresome eaters in the group (Jim and Etu) tried a turtle dish. The rest of us passed on that. We also had really good Dim Sum and two amazing clay pot dishes. We were all stuffed.

Now the entire group is relaxing before we re-gather and go out again. Adjusting to the time difference hasn't been that bad so far. We were tired before we left for this trip so this doesn't feel very different. Maybe it will hit us later today or tomorrow.

Ok - will sign off now.

J.