Dec. 7th- Final Day in Beijing

On Sunday we woke up at 8:30 and packed all of our stuff. The front desk said they would hold our bags for us for the first part of the morning and then we could come back and get them. Once again, Bill tried to convince me to get a Chinese breakfast and, once again, I refused. The stubbornness I have inherited from my parents was firmly set in place on that topic :) After we ate we headed to the Drum and Bell Towers located to the north of our hostel. Like the Great Wall, the Towers had steep stair wells but the views were great. I liked Beijing better than Shanghai because it didn't have the hustle and bustle. It's much more cultural than the thriving metropolis that is Shanghai. After the Towers we returned to the hostel, got our bags, and took a cab to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple is located in the middle of an enormous park and it took a lot of weaving to get there. It was absolutely beautiful. The painting on the outside was incredible and the sheer scale of it was awesome. And, have no fear, we got some Doritos pics there too :)

After the Temple, we walked around Beijing until it was time to leave. We walked back past Tiananmen Square and ate dinner in a hole in the wall restaurant. We considered getting Beijing Duck but they were extremely expensive and at this point both Bill and I were lacking in cash. We headed to the train station and got there early enough to sit in a rest stop to play more gin rummy. As we sat there Bill realized that it was the 7th of December and began to recite Roosevelt's speech from memory. He then pulled out his ipod and made me listen to the speech and then to other Churchill speeches. After I said I was done listening to it he continued to recite them for me. He said it was payback for making him eat a regular breakfast for two days in a row. Fair enough. Our tickets had a one on them so walked to the first car and when the ticket checker looked at our tickets she told us that our tickets were for the minus one car... located at the far end of the train. Bill and I looked at each other and then started running to the back of the train. I'm not really sure why we felt the need to run because we had plenty of time walk to the other end. Anyways, we finally got on the train which was much busier on a Sunday night than it was on a Thursday so we couldn't lay down this time. I want to sleep around midnight, woke up at 3:45, and couldn't go back to sleep.

We arrived in Shanghai at 7:45 and took a cab straight to class. We didn't have our books so we were completely unprepared but at least we went. The trip was a much needed vacation from the work load that has been piling up in the last couple of weeks. Of course, the more I travel the more I don't want to do anything with my life besides travel around the world. Who knows, maybe one day... :)