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| Beautiful horse carved from jade. |
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Team Sophie: Me, Tony, and Mom Team Lily: Nicole, Jeff and Rick-Nicole's Dad
Preparing to climb a portion of The Great Wall of China |
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| The Great Wall of China...whew! |
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| Our cute little lock that we attached to The Great Wall! |
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| Tony and I are throwing away the key to the lock. |
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| Cloisonne copper pottery being hand painted. |
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| Nicole, Jeff and Rick eating the authentic Chinese food! YUMMY!!! |
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| Entrance into the Temple of Heaven. |
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| One area of The Temple of Heaven |
Hi ya’ll! I know this says Friday, and it is actually Saturday, but I was unable to post on my blog yesterday, so this entry is for Friday, May 13.
We started the day going to the jade factory/store where we learned how jade was made into jewelry and different statues/images. Jade is considered one of China’s “diamonds”. If you purchase jewelry, over time it will change colors and becomes more valuable. In Chinese culture if you purchase a bracelet, you wear it on your left wrist because it is closest to the heart. Jade is passed down from generation to generation and in China, it is passed down to the son and his wife, not the daughter because when she marries, she will join a different family and the jewelry would not stay within her biological family. It is a beautiful green color, but can be purple as well. Yep…I did buy some jade!!!
Next we went to the the Great Wall of China. Oh my goodness! Mom and I made it for the initial step climbing, but since there were 900 gzillion steps, we decided to opt out on the full trip to the top. Tony, Nicole, Jeff and her Dad were the marathon step climbers and actually climbed pretty high and came back down safely! Before going up, there is a Chinese tradition where couples will place a lock on the Great Wall. This symbolizes the bond between husband and wife. After the lock is in place, the key is then thrown away, which symbolizes the fact that nothing can break the bond that is shared between the husband and wife. Tony and I did this and threw the key away together! AWWWWWW…!
After the great wall, we went to a Cloisonne factory/shop where they make enamel pottery from copper and it ends up looking like porcelain, but is more durable. We were shown the process of how they first shape the copper by hand, hand paint it, fire it up and repeat the process and polish it. It is beautiful! Yep…I bought some!!!! Ha! We then went upstairs and had our first official Chinese lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant and the food was great!
After lunch, we went to the Temple of Heaven which is an ancient heritage of chinese culture. There are many beautiful buildings and areas where the Chinese Emperor would worship the “God of Heaven” for prosperity and good health. It is an architectural masterpiece and there was sooo much to see and pictures to take. We had an amazing time!
I love the sight seeing…but I am soo ready to get our little one!
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