Great Wall of China

Amazing! Amazing, amazing, amazing. I could have stayed up there all day. The weather, first off, was amazingly cooperative, so thank you, sunshine, for making the air warm enough for me to happily contemplate the place. The sky was blue and unsullied by any clouds or ugly smog, for a change, which all the better highlighted the ruggedness of the mountains. The wall itself is a marvel of engineering and resource mobilization. I challenge anybody to look at that thing and doubt the might of old China. It blows my mind that that much stone got hauled up to the top of those huge mountains - for over a thousand miles!!! Mountaintop temples pale before it. Hadrian's Wall cringes and runs away. This thing is huge.
We only had three hours, and I squandered a whole hour by overestimating descent time and going down too soon. It only made my desire to come back someday and walk the length of the wall that much stronger. The area we saw was meticulously restored, and really amazing, but you guys know me. I like my old stuff gritty and ruined. I'd love to feel grass under my feet as well as the stone, and to climb up to the creaky second floors of guard towers that have crumbled with the centuries. By now I've become a bit of a jaded old hand at the wonders of the world, and it's taking more and more to blow my mind, but this is one of the few major monuments I've seen that makes me say "wow, I've got to see more." I can't wait to upload my photos and share the experience with you, but I know my pictures won't do the place justice. All I can say is that as far as the eye can see, the mountains are dotted with regularly spaced guard towers, and the crenellated walls zigzag with the landscape like (to steal a phrase from the signage at the site) a "flying dragon."
Even in retrospect it takes my breath away. I'm so lucky to have been able to see it for myself...