12-28-12

 Me: This morning we went to visit the Xi'an Ancient Wall. It's old...like 600 years.

Here are the cute kiddos from our travel group standing in front of the south entrance draw bridge. The wall is 9 miles, circles the ancient city of Xi'an and has a moat around it.

 On top of the wall. Worn and uneven bricks provide a wide path and the entire outside is lined with pretty red lanterns.

 Several of us rented one of these bikes to go for a cruise. 

We've never biked anywhere like this before.

 It was really neat looking with the fog...

 until a smoke stack reminded us it was smog. :-/

 Shayna and her dad on the tandem were having a great time...

and so did we!

The afternoon was spent at the Terra Cotta Warriors! This is pit 1 (of 3); a HUGE football stadium sized building filled with many warriors fully pieced together, others in the process and many still to be excavated.

About 2000 of the 8000 warriors burried have been excavated.

A farmer first discovered the warriors when he was digging a water well in 1974. It's astounding to us that they were lost in the first place! and were discovered by chance just 40 years ago. This 8th wonder of the world quite possibly could still be buried today. By the way, we met the farmer who discovered the warriors. He's now around 75 years old and signs books at the museum.

The warriors and horses were made for the emperor and buried in trenches around his future tomb to protect him in his afterlife.

We were told 728,000 prisioners worked on these warriors and the burial site for 34 years in and around 240 to 210 B.C. The detail to each ranking officer is impressive as they were each a unique face and body.

 Here are some archeologists working on piecing the warriors together.

 Each warrior and horse were originally painted brilliant colors but the statues lost their color due to oxidation. They are still trying to figure out how to preserve the color on those not yet excavated.

 This is pit 3, the smallest sites. That is one complicated giant jigsaw puzzle.

Bob and I couldn't resist sneaking down to pit 1 when the security guards weren't looking to snap a photo with the warriors and dig up a few new ones. 

If you ever get the chance...visit the Terra Cotta Warriors. Wow!