Another thing you have to go to in Beijing (really, outside of Beijing) is the Great Wall. (This is another important location in "Big Bird in China", and Cielo recognized it as soon as she saw it, from a kilometer away.)
We went to part of the wall called Mutianyou, which is about a two-hour drive from Beijing. We rented a car (and driver). The driver did an excellent job of dealing with the surprise road-closing near the wall, although at the time we were concerned it would be a replay of the driver confusion we had in our return to Su Zhou.
To get to the wall, you have to do a fair amount of walking up. First, there's the sloping climb from the parking lot. Here are Vernon and Cielo on their way up. In the muggy hot weather we had in Beijing, we were actually open to one class of pushy vendors - the ones selling water.
