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Ask anyone to name the biggest attraction in or near Beijing, and most will tell you it's the Great Wall of China.
It seems to be the place where even athletes go to relax after being so focused.
Near Beijing, that means the Badaling section or the Mutianyu section. We decided to visit the Mutianyu section because it's less crowded. Once there, we learned the easiest way to get to the Wall isn't the same way the guys who built it went - which is walking. Most people pay the small fare to get on a cable car, because once on the Wall itself, the real walking begins.
"It's hard work going the walking bits," said Lindy Younge of New Zealand.
There is a lot of walking you have to do if you want to take in the unfathomable size of the Great Wall.
And to think this section is only about a mile and a half of the more than 4,000 miles the Great Wall stretches.
"It's mind boggling how anybody can think of building a wall 5500 km long. Why would they do it?" wondered Lindy's husband, Roy.
"It was kind of a defense for the Chinese people," guessed Matthew Gilarmo of Florida.
"I don't know how they brought these bricks here," pondered Slovenian citizen Nate Podkrajsek, "It's so huge. No words, no words."
Each brick was brought up to this ridge one by one, stacked by hand, and was put together so well, much of the original construction is still in place. When you stop and look at them, and let your mind wander, that's when the sheer realization of it all hits.
"Just to be standing on something people from so many generations ago built is mind blowing," said Gilarmo, "just to think that they, the cable car we came up on, they brought these bricks up themselves is amazing. Amazing."
This section of the Great Wall is one of the toughest and also one of the most popular. At the top, some 450 steps later, is the end of this section, only ruins go from there which you're allowed to hike.
Even still, a lot of people do the hike, just to get to the top and look down.
"Just to see the history right here preserved is amazing," said Gilarmo.
It's the main reason why many locals, foreigners, and even world class athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics come here. Members of the USA Basketball team visited the wall, as did Misty May and Michael Phelps. They, like so many others who come here, want to see and feel history.
"It's incredible. It's thousands of years old," said Younge.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Podkrajsek in amazement.
That's because there isn't anything like it anywhere else in the world.
