At 7:00 am in the morning, life returned to the Franz family. We had little sleep but our bodies seem to be confused. We felt well and were ready to get going. We would have left the hotel much earlier, but we had to wait for a representative from our adoption agency in Beijing to deliver our airplane tickets for Hohhot. While waiting, we had our breakfast in the hotel. It was not typical Chinese breakfast, but rather a mix of western and Chinese buffet. We had hard boil eggs, fruits, cereals, beacon, hams, cheese, rice soup, steamed vegetables with coffee and tea.

We decided to explore Beijing on foot. Our hotel is very close to the famous Wangfujing Street and Tian’an men square. Bert has the best sense of directions and seems to remember a lot from our last visit. He directed us to the Catholic Church which has been in the center of Beijing for a few hundred years. Unfortunately the church was closed during the day since the church members feel that tourist are not respectful enough and only visit the church for sightseeing. Their mass schedules are extremely early to our standards, 6:15am for Latin Mass and 7 and 8 am for Chinese Mass. We may come back tomorrow if we are able to get up that early.

From there we went down Wangfujing Street exploring some shops and a food court that we remembered very well from last time – oh oh – not to forget to mention that we stopped at Starbucks and they actually understood what we needed – that made our day. On our way to Tianmen Square and the Gate of Heavenly Peace, we strolled through a nice park. Kids had fun just jumping around.

Joshua was very excited about the Grand Opera House. Both Toby and Joshua had learned a lot fact about it through a program on Discovery Channel. It is an amazing architecture of egg shaped building. When Josh saw that the Beijing Ballet is playing Romeo and Juliet two days after we leave he begged and pleaded to stay two days longer. Who on earth would have thought that Joshua of all people would be interested in that. They are reading and discussing "Romeo and Juliet" in school, but Josh and classical ballet – the world never runs out of surprises. In the end, he gave up because adopting his sister takes priority.

From the Grand Opera House, we walked on the Tianmen Square. Tianmen square has a special meaning for Toby, here he took his first steps in early June of 1992 (he also left his mark on the great Wall – but this is another story that he has to tell). Anna was tired of all the walking – we think she was tired because the time difference. Big brothers are good at carrying her once a while to give her a break. She loves the attentions we give her. In about two days, she will have to share all of these with her new sisters. It must be tough on her.

We finally took the subway to the famous Silk Market – more famous to western visitors. It is a crazy place. Many counterfeit can be found here and most shoppers are speaking English or Russian. More surprisingly, most of the sellers, look very uneducated, speak English; some even speak multiple foreign languages to negotiate with the buyers. Toby and Josh had a ball trying to bargain for things they really don't need. It turns out that Toby is as bad in bargaining as Daddy whereas Mom and Josh can drive sellers to the point where they either jell or break out in tears. At the end we spent four hours there and only bought a few small things. We were looking for a PSP system but couldn't get the price low enough (less than $50 USD) and our pride finally stood between us the PSP.

We had dinner at a small noodle place where mostly locals eat. The whole meal for the family cost us less than $12. By that time, everyone was tired, especially Anna. The excitement of new pair of sneakers only last long enough for Anna to walk on her own feet. We went back to our hotel short before 7 pm – we think because Joshua was on the only one who had a watch – a new RolexJ. He tested every hour or so to see if it is still ticking.

Josh and Anna went to bed shortly after eight. Bert and Sue went out to the food market on the street. It is one of the best and most unique places to eat if you listen to Bert. After that we just want to talk (chat) to our friends and then update the Blog. No plans for tomorrow except visiting an office from Bert's company and possible the Olympic Village to see the Bird Nest. It is so nice to just go with the flow. 

By the way, we are crazy, insane or simply ….. – we set up a wireless network in the hotel so we don't have to fight about who is getting the network outlet. Life is good with wireless!

Oh, yes, no snow in Beijing though everyone was expecting it last night – which was one of our determining factors to cancel our original plan to go to the Great Wall. I think Michigan took all the snow for us. I heard it was snowed in in Michigan.

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