Summer palace buildings

The group, minus me, I took the picture

the aquatic centre for the Olympics, across the street from the birds nest. The Olympic village is behind that.

Holds 91,300 seats, to be done March 2008

Lauren is pissed and Lia is shy. The stadium was closed. As close as we could get. Awesome building!

I don't think he can read English!

A marble bridge at the summer palace

Sue, not wanting me to take her picture

Hi,

Today we ventured off to see the Olympic sites. There are 31 venues and 21 of them are new. We were able to see the birds nest and aquatic centre from a distance. They are both to be ready in March. The birds nest is a work of art. I would love to see inside but no luck. The Olympic village is complete and each apartment is already sold but they can't move in until after the Olympics. The prices for other apartments in the area doubled and in some cases tripled the day they announced where the site would be. The aquatic centre is a beautiful building as well.

The summer palace while beautiful and vast was a bit of a let down. Mainly due to the huge crowds as this is a big holiday in China. I would say it is like the busiest day at Ontario Place but multiply it by 10. They wasn't a square metre where we could just sit and relax. It was a total gong show! Trying to get people together and not losing people. Pushing strollers was a pain in the ass! I would love to see it in January or even December. The emperor built it in the 1700's as his summer residence.

The other families head out tomorrow and we leave Saturday. We are free to roam tomorrow and will head out for some final shopping and then pack up and leave Saturday. This could be the last post until we are home and then what would be the point really as you could just come over and see what we are doing if you really wanted to but I have a feeling it won't be too interesting! We very much appreciate all the comments and encouragement. This was a much different trip then last time. Hauling 2 kids, 2 grandmas and all the stuff around was quite a challenge at times but we couldn't have done it without everyones help.

Lauren has started to show that she is quite stubborn and knows what she wants when she wants it and isn't afraid to let us know about it either. Pray for us on the plane ride, it is going to be interesting to say the least! I already feel sorry for those seated around us a bit but I guess they could have flown 1st class so they can get over it.

Thanks again and we land at 6ish pm in TO on the 6th! See you all soon after that.

Ken, Susan, Lia and Lauren signing of from Beijing.