So we travelled for almost 24 hours with all the layovers and such. The flights went smoothly although it was very hard to sleep on that long flight, which is okay because when we landed in Beijing it was nearly midnight and we needed to go to sleep anyway. The flight was very crowded and they actually delayed our take-off because the plane was "over gross". I had never heard the term before... Not really something you want to here before you head out on a 9000 mile flight;). So they needed 6 people to get off the plane (I have no idea where they came up with 6, but apparently there's a whole career field dedicated to figuring this stuff out). Anyhoo... Those 6 people got $1600 for their trouble, not too bad. There was an elderly Chinese lady sitting next to Fred in the flight. She and her husband had been visiting their daughter in Washington state. Fred actually switched seats with her to give her the aisle so she could sit near her husband. She was appreciative and offered us some grapes she had in a produce bag (they were washed she said). Normally i wouldn't eat produce from a stranger but we both felt like she would be insulted if we didn't have some grapes. Didn't want to start the trip off by insulting an old Chinese lady, so...They were actually very fresh and washed:) She spoke very limited English (but compared to our ability to speak Chinese, her language skills were advanced!) She tried to give us some advice, much of it was lost in translation... Basically, don't buy clothes or shoes in Beijing becuz it's very expensive, T'men square is very big and dangerous becuz of terrorists(?), we should keep our money under our clothes and Fred should carry it, we will need jackets in morning and evening, and Chinese women would swoon over Fred becuz he is tall and has blue eyes... Okay, she didn't tell us that last part;). She was very sweet
We breezed through immigration and customs with no problems, got some Chinese currency from the ATM, avoided the non-official taxi guys, and stepped outside into another world. Either it was a foggy night or a smoggy night... Probably the latter since we could feel it in our eyes and throat. The taxi had seat belts, but no way to latch them because of the seat cover. Hey, it's the thought that counts, right? The cabbie got near the hotel area but was having trouble finding the hotel. We had theChinese address printed out from an email yen hotel sent us. Fred tried to tell him "CROWNE PLAZA" very slowly and clearly, um, well, that didn't help at all. He phoned a friend (on his latest generation samsung smart phone) and we found it. Fred have him a tip when he paid (apparently they aren't used to that here becasue his attitude was much nicer and he helped us get our luggage out when before we were stuffig it in ourselves). He even tried to give us an extra piece of luggage that apparently some poor soul had left in the trunk. We used charades to inform him it wasn't ours and he seemed surprised. Our room smelled of smoke but it was 2am and we had to go to sleep. I was thinking the whole city must smell like this because when I turned on the air, it was 10x worse! We asked to switch rooms and moved across the hall and it was not smokey (yay!). The smog was much better the next morning because it was very windy. We went to the summer palace on Thursday. Here are some pictures. 
Throughout the day I was thinking "this is his country, his heritage, his culture" I am glad we are able to experience this on our journey. I was also thinking "oh my gosh, we are so close to him!"
The anticipation is building with each day!
Friday we go visit Little Flower medical foster home and then go to the Great Wall!
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