Sunday May 9th Day 2

We got an early morning start to the day as all the family's who are here in Beijing need to meet in the lobby by 8:30 if interested in doing some sight seeing for the day. We went down for breakfast for around 7:00, they serve a fantastic Western/Chinese style buffet. There were 6 families now in Beijing and we got to meet them all at breakfast. We sat with two families from BC, one couple we had already met once (from Pemberton), the other couple (from Langley) it was our first time. As parent's were sitting around chatting after breakfast 4 older girls were practicing a show, and after breakfast they called all the mother's for mother's day and showed us what they had been practicing. It was quite cute.
All families met at 8:30 and we walked to the subway about 10 minutes away. We took the subway about 7 stops away (15 min) to where a park was located. This isn't your typical park, it is a place where adults go to exercise, Tai Chia Sparking and all kinds of different groups exercising to music everywhere. There was also a metal playground that would typically be used around the park which is quite big, (it kinda reminds me of Stanley Park, but different) for a good couple of hours. We then took the subway back to the hotel and had a late lunch at the Chinese restaurant just down the street.
Around 4:00 pm we took a ten minute walk to an indoor market as we needed an alarm clock, stroller, watch etc...This market was so big, it became very overwhelming as there was just too much to look at - there were hundreds of vendors on each floor, and there were 4 floors, and this is a market where you barter for price. We were so tired, and Mary was exhausted so we took turns carrying her. We ended up only getting an alarm clock.
We all met back in the lobby for 5:30 to walk for dinner. The group wanted Pizza Hut for the kids, and they figured service would be quick, so we decided to follow. Well, two of the kids (Mary and Nyah) fell asleep before the food even came, as it took forever to get it as they couldn't understand English. We carried Mary back to the hotel and went to bed around 8:30 as we all were having a 4:00am wake up call, as all families were leaving for the airport at 5:00 am the next morning to depart to each of our provinces in China that our children were from.
It was a good day.