Terracotta Warriors

We made it. This is one of the places I have been more than slightly obsessed with getting to the whole time we have been on this trip. It is one of the main reasons we even came to China. And today, we made it! It did not disappoint.
We got up at the crack of dawn to secure a spot on the bus there after a thwarted attempt yesterday. We are in the midst of a national holiday in China, and yesterday's early afternoon line was at least a half mile long, so we abandoned our attempt and went to another star attraction in Xi'an, the Big Goose Pagoda. The Pagoda was built for a monk that was responsible for bringing Buddhism to China from India. We climbed the Pagoda and had a great birds-eye view of the city. It was a pretty exhausting day, but as always, worth every minute!
OK, back to the Warriors. According to the guide book, the best way to see the sight is to check out the "smaller" pits of warriors first, and save the first pit for last. I am very glad we did it that way, because to be honest the first couple of pits were slightly underwhelming. We saw the excavating process and some of the warriors behind glass, which was really neat of course- but not the famed vision of all the warriors lined up that I was searching for....not the image that gave the place it's nickname, "The Eighth Wonder of the World".
And so, we made our way to the final pit. This was the place to be. The pit was about the size of two or three football fields, full or warriors all standing at attention. The thing that stuck me immediately was that each warrior had a unique face and a unique figure. Some were taller than others, some thinner, some with longer faces, some with square faces. This aspect made the whole army seem much more human than I could have imagined. There were many with hands that looked like they had at one time been carrying weapons, and others that held their arms out like they were driving a chariot. There were a lot of terracotta horses and some chariot wheels and parts as well. Some of the warriors were missing heads, some arms or other body parts- but for the most part they were very much intact. There was so much of the pit left to excavate, and the experts estimate that there are up to 6000 soldiers in that one pit. We saw 2000 today.
The pictures won't do it justice, because it is hard to capture the sheer masses of warriors. They looked like they were ready to go to battle, given the proper command. What an amazing sight to behold!
After our early day, we spent the rest of the day just enjoying this beautiful hostel. Tomorrow we head to another small town before returning to Beijing.
Stay tuned!