Yangtze River Cruise

Beautiful scenery- fog, terraced gardens, pagodas, bridges, and waterfalls.

Shanghai Gardens

These were once private gardens now owned by the government.

Pandas

It was fun to see giant pandas. They are endangered, and there are only about 1,000 in the world. 

Forbidden City and Imperial Palace

The Forbidden City was off limits to the commoners in the days of the emperors. The Imperial Palace was massive. It had 9,999 1/2 rooms because only celestial beings could have 10,000 rooms. The emperor considered himself one small step below celestial.

Summer Palace

The emperor's summer palace was cool because it had a big lake that his poor servants dug out by hand.

2008 Olympics

The pictures are bad thanks to the Beijing smog, but we went to the bird's nest, the  water cube where Phelps won his 8 golds, and the Olympic torch.

The Great Wall of China

We climbed on The Great Wall of China, and parts were really steep. The wall was close to 6,000 miles long in its glory years. The bodies of the thousands of workers who died building it were thrown into the base of the wall. Thankfully, we didn't see that.

The Locks on the Yangtze River

This was one of my favorite parts of the river cruise. We went through a series of 4 locks. It was amazing.

Shanghai at Night

Very cool night skyline.

Terra Cotta Warriors

Incredible! A farmer in the 1970s was digging a well when he found a terra cotta head. He thought he had uncovered a devil. When others came to dig around, they found more terra cotta soldiers. They think there are 8,000 soldiers, each unique, that the emperor had made to guard his tomb over 2,000 years ago. Some are in great condition, but most are in pieces that they are working to put back together.