I don't know if there are words to describe my first view of The Great Wall. Like mostly everyone in the world I'd seen loads of pictures of this "wonder" but the pictures were usually closeups of some famous person standing on the wall. To actually see the grey-white stone structure snaking along the mountain ridge is nothing less than awesome.
The Great Wall is the world's longest human-made structure, stretching over 4,000 miles. It's estimated that 2 to 3 million Chinese died in the centuries long process of building the Wall. The Great Wall that can be seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) using limestone, granite and bricks. Battle forts and watch towers are spaced at intervals along the wall.
The steps at the Wall were extremely steep, at uneven heights, and were sometimes broken and slippery. The climb was daunting. I made it up three levels and only because an older man with a cane was walking ahead of me. "If he could do it, I could do it." There were steps inside of the watch towers also but they were much too steep and narrow for me to attempt. The trip back down to the starting point was nearly as harrowing as the trip up, I kept thinking I would trip and fall on my face.
After my semi-successful climb I purchased a t-shirt and key chain to prove I had made the great trek.
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