Again, a beautiful day with blue sky. We had expected heavy smog in Beijing and we were told our few clear days here were unusual — maybe we brought it. In any case, we were soon on our way.

Our fist stop for the day was one of those little government showroom places that they just seemed to forget to put in the itinerary. Yet , this one was different. We actually felt we were at a factory.

Cloisonne is one of the traditional arts and crafts in Beijing. Cloisonne, whose history can date back to over 500 years ago, is well-known traditional enamelware. It is actually called the "Blue of Jingtai" as blue is the dominant color adopted for enameling. The craft became prevalent during the reign of Jingtai (1450--1456) in the Ming dynasty. It involves quite elaborate and complicated processes: base-hammering, soldering, enamel-filling, enamel firing, polishing and gilding.

Heading out of Beijing we passed what looked like an amusement park. As we approached the Great Wall of China our first thought was it is everywhere. Like a gigantic snake it slithers up and over and down and out. It is most impressive — so impressive we heard one couple phoning various friends in the U.S. to announce they were on the Great Wall of China. Knee problems didn't allow us to go the whole way (Of course, we would have otherwise.) but we were issued with certificates showing our great accomplishment.

After our traditional vendors' visit we headed out in another direction and the wall just kept going. Eventually we arrived at a restaurant that just happened to be attached to a friendship store.

Frommer' says: Friendship Stores were once the only places where locals and foreigners alike could purchase imported goodies. You even needed "foreign exchange currency" to obtain the overpriced goods. Mercifully, this is no longer the case. Well, it still seems to be targeting foreigners.

Our next stop was a visit to the Ming Tombs Area, the burial site of 13 Ming Dynasty Emperors. After dodging the hawkers we headed through The Great Red Gate.

We strolled along the “sacred way”— a boulevard lined with human and animal figures leading to the Tombs. A photographic display showed what the area looked like earlier. The bus was waiting at the end of the row and it was back to he hotel as the setting sun offered a chance for some unusual photos,

After dark, we set out for our Peking duck dinner. It was a great meal although after a drive of over an hour dodging Beijing traffic it made one wonder why they hadn't just had it at the hotel. Then, of course, we would have missed our parking adventure.

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