Standing atop the wall stretching 4,160 miles in total, built to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from Mongolian attacks during the rule of successive dynasties, was a step back in history. First built in the 7th century BC, it was rebuilt and maintained between the 6th century BC and the 16th century AD. The current wall was built during the Ming Dynasty. The sections in the eastern part of China were built out of bricks and stones while in the western sections of wall were made out of less durable materials on earth and grass.

It was a brisk fall afternoon when we arrived, thankfully just as several other busloads of tourists left. There are four popular sections of the wall typically visited directly from Beijing; the Badaling section, Mutianyu section,

Simatai section and Shixiaguan section, all of which serve different purposes for scholars, tourists and researchers on a Great Wall tour.

The crowds thinned out quickly as the climbing started. Whew! Those steps are steep! Up we went to the first watch tower and then the second. Cheryl kept on climbing. I knew I needed to get more exercise when a Chinese lady (quite a bit older) overtook me on the last reach, while I was panting and trying to find my water bottle. She just smiled and kept climbing without missing a beat. The view was spectacular! Fall colors blended with the winding stretches of ancient wall as far as you could see The Great Wall and we were standing on top of it! Wow!!

If you’re interested in learning more about China, a great resource is from an author from China, Ling Chai, who wrote a book called A Heart for Freedom about the culture and lives of natives in China.

Not exactly what you’re thinking, I’m sure!

Our travel plans brought us to beautiful Beijing, China just three days before the Olympics were to conclude. Of course, being the “seat-of-the-pants” travelers that we’ve become this past year, we had no tickets for any of the events.

One World – One Dream was everywhere! My “one dream” was to see an event that would have a medal ceremony associated with it (the USA playing would be a bonus) – watching those flags go up and hearing the national anthem…well, I get sappy about things like that.

“All sold out” we’d been told again and again. “No tickets available.” That was disappointing, but hey, we were in the city hosting the Olympic Games. The theme songs were playing everywhere…One World – One Dream. On the subway, in the airport, and in every restaurant—it would have been annoying if we’d been there longer than three days, but since it was so new, I still got goose-bumps every time I heard it!

It wasn’t looking very good. Every morning we’d check that days list of events to see if we might be able to grab a “black-market” ticket from a local scalper – not a guarantee, but at least a few of those were available.

Finally, we found what we were looking for…The GOLD MEDAL Game – softball, USA vs. Japan. We both like softball, Cheryl even plays catcher back home. This was it – we had to give it a try!

A subway and three buses later, we were on our way to the stadium. No tickets, but we were still reveling in the excitement of everyone else and hoping against hope for a shot at a place to sit.

We arrived at 6:10; game time was 6:30. Lines were piling into the stadium, but no ticket sellers in sight. Just as a wave of disappointment was about to creep up on us, we found a small group of people milling about. Ticket sellers! Asking 100 times the ticket face value!

Lucky for us, the prices were dropping like crazy because of the game getting ready to start, but we still paid enough for the seller to have a nice dinner that night on us. S’okay though, we had tickets in hand – good seats in the outfield, a great view of the whole stadium and the players and it was the GOLD MEDAL GAME.

USA took silver that night, but we did get to see the team wrapped proudly in American flags and the chants USA!, USA!, USA! are still ringing in my head and will be for a long, long time!