Great Wall, great neighborhood, great dinner

The wall is as big as everyone says it is. Fairly astounding. Sadly,
we had a rainy day, so the vistas were of pure fog.

We got dropped off in the 798 Art District, which is sort of like
Beijing's SoHo. Not quite as bustling, but a fun, young, hip
neighborhood. We nosed around galleries and drank expensive espresso
for the afternoon, then dined on sea cucumbers, pickled duck, sort of
a savory Jell-O dish, scallion pancake (quesadilla minus cheese) and
dried tofu wrapped around raw veggies dipped in a great black bean
sauce.

The rain cleared up a lot of the smog in the city, so we actually got
a sense of the skyline today! Yesterday it was too hazy to see more
than a few blocks away. This place is huge. Huge! It's about the same
size as Belgium, in fact.