Moments of Beijing

The rest of our time spent in Beijing was spent self-escorting ourselves around town.

Starting with McDee's every day.

Of course.

We went to the Temple of Heaven.

Admission to all the sights we attended was RIDICULOUSLY cheap. 

$8 tops. 

A stop by the stock exchange(of course).

Plenty of 

Ice cream

Donut

Hot chocolate stops.

The architecture museum.

Did I mention one day we walked 15 miles??

15 MILES!

We were dead tired and sore. 

Once we found out cabs were so cheap, we never walked more than a mile after that. 

Splurged and ate at our swanky hotel a few times.

 ^How pretty right?!

Had thee BEST sweet and sour soup our very last night at the hotel. 

Wish I would have discovered it sooner :(

Enjoyed the view at our hotel

Mesmerized watching the crazy traffic patterns.

Aaand the construction project going on across the street. 

Visited the World Park.

Tons of tiny replicas of famous world landmarks. 

A little ghetto, but we loved it :)

Amazed at how many of the landmarks Aar and I have already been to!

Fell in love with the Summer Palace.

Aka where the emperors stayed and played in the summer. 

 

Freezing our butts off right here^

Explored the Llama temple

Walked along trinket lined streets

Right after this photo was taken, a little Chinese family wanted a picture with Aaron... I was dying. 

It was such a blast taking in and watching another culture. 

Hope to see more of China soon!

Tiananmen Square

Our busy day with our tour guide continued and we headed to Tiananmen Square

The 

CENTER

of 

Beijing

It's a place of history.

A place of tradition.

New and old.

Emporers

Governments

Protestors

Roamed these pathways. 

Red.

Green.

Gold.

Repeat.

Those popular Chinese colors adorned the ceilings, windows and heavy beams. 

We learned about ancient traditions and ceremonies. 

How things were built. 

Aaaand took plenty of pictures and videos. 

We only got stopped once for pictures with my blond hair. 

Great Wall

...Aaaand we're back from China!

It was a crazy trip and definitely one for the books. 

We flew out the day before Thanksgiving early in the morning. 

I haven't done that before.



The Salt Lake airport lines were horrendous. 



They snaked back and forth. 


Weaving past stairs and escalators. 


Packed. 


But luckily they moved surprisingly fast. 


Because of our cheap flights... we had 3 legs to get to China. 

SLC>PASCO>SEATTLE>BEIJING



Since I travel a bunch for work, I have medallion status with Delta. 


We got upgraded to comfort on all flights.

And FIRST CLASS on one leg. 

^He calls the people in coach 'fiens'

Of course, it was the shortest leg... only 40 minutes :(


Buuut I was glad Aar could experience that, even for just a bit. 



The time difference to China was 14 hours. 

We got there at about 7 pm, which was perfect because we just went straight to bed. 



We zonked out right away.... 


And woke up first thing in the morning.


First stop: McDee's 

Sausage McMuffins, hash browns and diet coke(more like coke zero :( in Asia


After we jetted right on over the GREAT WALL


We hired a guide for that day, which might have been one of our best ideas. 

They picked us up right at our hotel in a fancy car and educated us on China and history.


Before we knew it, we were taking the chairlift up to the Great Wall

....to see views like this

 ....and this

 ....and this

 It was nothing short of amazing!

Obviously touristy parts of the wall have been rebuilt.

Other parts of the wall are just in ruins.

But just as cool.

This part of the wall was built in the 1300's & 1400's

Although the wall was built to keep out the Mongolians, it didn't succeed.

Aar and I were awestruck the whole time... we loved it!

It made the entire trip worth it, just for this!

Friendsgiving

First official Friendsgiving.

Definitely won't be our last.


Since Aar and I leave for China tomorrow, I figured we better celebrate Thanksgiving before we leave!


Nothing replaces turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, and PIE.

So Friendsgiving happened.

Becca & Johnny, Spence & Lexi, Quinn & Erika, Aaron & I put on ties and dresses for the occasion.

Becca is officially the dessert contributor.

Chocolate cheesecake.


Apple pie.


Pumpkin pie.


Pie heaven!

And Lexi kills it with the hand-mashed potatoes.

We didn't forget the Diet Coke.

Or the notes under your chair/plate like Grandma :)


And of course we ended the night with UNO!

ATL

Weekend officially OVER.


Sitting here bummed as I



type.



scroll.



export.



attach.


back to reality..... in the ATL airport.


Rewind back to the weekend before I stress too much about work....


Spence, Lexi and I flew into Atlanta to surprise my mom for her BiRtHdAy!

Well, sorta surprised.


My parents had to drive 2 hours to pick us up in ATL.


But my dad has an office in Atlanta so it was sort of an excuse.


We got in at 7:30 Friday night.

Pit stop at Panera and then back to my parents in Birmingham.


Hot tubbed.

Admired their new backyard.


The next day we drove down to Auburn to watch #1 Georgia and #10 Auburn play.


Georgia got beat.

BAD.

But we had some of the best BBQ around.

Hickory sauce.

Fall-off-the-bone-ribs.

Maple baked beans.


Capped the night off with more Jim N Nicks Barbeque for dinner.

A trip to Walmart for Diet Coke and plenty of candy junk.


Sunday we had breakfast crepes and a yummy birthday dinner for my mom.

We watched old family movies and wedding videos.

Played Quarto and ate birthday cake.


And before we knew it a short 5 hours later and we were waking up to trek back to Atlanta.


Spence and Lexi were the first stop- we dropped them off at the Atlanta airport to catch their 11 am flight to SLC.


We had a bit before my 7:45 pm flight to Lousiville[for work:/] so we headed to Athens to have lunch with David and see his new house.

It smelled brand new and was in a cute new neighborhood.


.... And then it was back in the car to Atlanta.... we've been in the car for about 10 hours by now.

Quick stop at Georgetown cupcakes and here I am sitting at the airport...


Catching up on work prepping myself for the first of 3 more flights before heading HOME.


I guess work travel makes the road go round.

And also gives me medallion status on Delta.

Milan

Milan.

Last stop of our trip.


Myself, Aaron and my parents hopped on a train and headed from Venice to Milan.


We utilized a lot of transit this trip.



After getting situated at our cute AirBnb, we jetted to the historic city center of Milan.

Where this happens.

AKA the Duomo.



It was GINORMOUS!

Aaaaand screaming for us to take hundreds of pictures.



Aar got a little distracted with more pigeons and started feeding the birds again.


The line was hours long to get in, so we just enjoyed it from the outside.

Although now that I google 'inside the Duomo' I'm sort of sad we didn't wait to go inside.... it looks ah-mazing!

Next time.


We spent the rest of the day walking around Milan.

Through the giant historic mall.

Eating gelato.

Walking through charming European parks.

Stopping and admiring fountains and castles.

And spent dinner on the swanky city trolley.

We had plenty of great food.

Seafood lasagna.

Octopus.

Lamb.

White chocolate orange pudding.


All while driving around and seeing Milan.

Pricey.... but definitely recommended.


And we ended the ride right next to the stunning Duomo at night.

The next morning was spent casually walking around the city and enjoying a typical European breakfast of pastries by the lake in Milan.

It was a perfect casual fall morning before we parted ways and my parents headed back to Paris and us to Rome.

But first Aaron HAD to make a detour to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.


I wasn't mad.


It was a 2 hour detour, but it was screaming for us to check it off our bucket list.

We raced a mile from the train station to catch a glimpse of this

 and this

while we acted like typical tourists.

Pisa is right on the coast, and there were palm trees lining the streets.

The sun streamed golden light as it set.

The air was warm and comfortable.


Worth the extra 2 hour detour.


Before we knew it, we were waking up the next day to head to the airport to go back to the states.


Such a memorable trip, and hope we can go back someday to explore more of Italy!