Creationism---7 Literal Days?

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Gen 1:1

Did God create the earth in six 24 hour days? Or did God create the earth in six days, but it really took six thousand years, because a day to God is like a thousand years? 

Well, let's break this down.  Okay, I know I am treading on some toes when I say that science has totally blown the six day theory out of the water.  For that matter, it has blown the six thousand year theory out of the water, too.  Now I firmly believe that God created everything in his time and in his way.  So, maybe God said, "let there be..." and BANG.  The creation of the universe couldn't have been a peaceful and quiet event. 

So why are there two creation stories in Genesis?  What happened between Gen 1 and Gen 2? Anything?? Or are there simply two different stories that were passed down through the generations before Moses got around to writing them down? 
From a literature and history background standpoint (and also after reading several theological opinions on this) I believe that there are two creation stories in Genesis because of oral tradition.  If you look at other cultures from the earliest civilizations, they also have creation stories that are very similar to Gen.  They also have a flood story!!!  (which confirms that there was, in fact, a flood)
Here's the thing--for years and years and years and years, the only way information was passed around and/or taught was by word of mouth. There were no books.  For a LONG time, there wasn't any form of actual writing at all!  Things had to follow patterns and be told in a format that was easy to memorize and repeat.  The POINT of all of this, was to explain that God created everything.  Not to necessarily explain exactly how that happened. 
Genesis is supposed to show us that God is the creator, that God established a relationship and a promise with mankind, and that we have the free will to choose to obey his will or to fall.

But, you may ask, if this is the case and Gen isn't a literal story, then how do we know the rest of the Bible is true?
Well, look at history.  Beginning with Abraham, the Bible is an actual historical account of the Jewish people.  It is okay that not all of the Bible is literal.  We know that Jesus himself used parables to help people understand!  God is not bound to the words of a book, the book was given to us to help us understand, and to tell the story of salvation history.