What trip to China would be complete without a visit to the Great Wall and dumplings in the country that invented dim sum?

We visited the Great Wall at a spot right outside of Beijing. It’s immense. We had fantastic weather for viewing and climbing. Despite that this particular viewing spot is swarmed with tourists, thinking of what it took to build this wonder of the world is next level. And then our a capella group, Cascade, sang a couple numbers to an adoring crowd.

The ancient colonial city of Xi’an is a center of culture and higher education in China. And the highlight for me was the XinQin Palace Park we visited early one morning. I’ve been to Hong Kong where I saw retirees doing their tai chi exercise routines in public parks each morning in graceful synchronicity. Here older Chinese residents were doing much more. Dance, music, kite flying. All manner of artistic pursuits. Seems the Chinese have figured out that as we get older and live in a dense city environment, we need excuses to get out and get together. And art seems to be a great vehicle.

A long winding walk through a park means we earned a hearty lunch — of dumplings! What a feast! Dumplings filled with pork and duck. And veggie ones in new and unexpected flavor combinations. Heaven! I happily digested them for most of the rest of the day.