Xian is the old capitol of China. The most interesting thing was the terra cotta warriors. We saw several thousand warrior figures that had been unearthed and glued back together by archaeologists. Talk about humpty dumpty. When the peasants had an uprising, they broke most of them before the Emperor could be buried with them. The site was discovered by a group of farmers in the 70’s. The original discover signed our book. Very hot but not too crowded. Then we visited the Banpo village which is another historical site of a 5000 year old civilization. It is amazing how some things were so sophisticated back then. Then we were off to visit the Shanxi historic museum. There we learned of the Chinese zodiac. It is based upon the year you are born and there are 12 signs/animals that just repeat. Turns out Norm is a dog and I am a rooster. Jeanine is a pig and Brad is a tiger. Then they showed us their art gallery. We had dinner and saw the Tang Dynasty cultural production. Unusual, original instruments of the Tang period were played by the ancient Chinese instrumental ensemble. Then there was a cultural dance segment. The costumes and dances were beautiful. More music and the finale which we started to nod off to as we were exhausted from the day. On Wed., July 27, our guide Sally took us to the Big Goose Pagoda, the bell tower and the ancient city wall in the morning.