Last day in China - shopping, Olympic Park and the flight back to the US

So excited when I found a starbucks!

Well, today is the last day of what was certainly the most memorable and incredible trip of my life.  Our flight was at 5pm (well, it was supposed to) and so we are able to squeeze in some last minute sight-seeing. I got up early (I tried to sleep as little as possible so I could sleep on the plane), got a big Starbucks coffee, and walked around the city for an hour before we packed up and got on the bus.

We went shopping in another market close to the Temple of Heaven, and although shopping at the markets is absolutely exhausting because of all the negotiating, I was able to get everything I wanted/needed with time to spare.

Next we went to Olympic Park to see the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The area was beautiful and the Bird's Nest was incredible.

IBM building

The Bird's Nest

Very windy

In front of the water cube

After the windy morning at Olympic Park we had our last meal at a restaurant and headed to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 5pm and we were able to get some pizza before boarding.  At 5:45 we still hadn't taken off, watching as they took items off the plane.  Finally a flight attendant announced that they were having weight imbalance issues, and that they needed 68 people to leave the flight or they would cancel the flight.  After many announcements, many head counts and a lot of waiting, our flight finally took off 4 hours late.  One of the perks of having 68 less people on a flight was that there were many empty seats and a lot of room to lay down and sleep, and that is what we did!  I was home at 10:30pm, and Tsun-Ju volunteered to leave the flight and she was home around 3am.