Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Shanghai

Sorry for the interruption in my blogging; I ran out of internet minutes on the ship and didn't want to pay for more.  I thought I would be able to catch up in Beijing, but the repressive Chinese government blocks blogs and Facebook. 

We are home now and have been for a week.  I am starting to get caught  up on laundry & housework, so it's time to share my memories of Shanghai.

Our ship is small enough that we were docked in the middle of Shanghai....we could look out our cabin window and see the most amazing skyscrapers!  A son of friends is working as an architect there and we could understand why he would want to work in such an innovative and growing city.  We did a half day tour of the city which introduced us to some older areas, the Bund and the French Concession, that were filled with early 20th century buildings that were reminscient of Europe.  Once again, a river flows through the city and there is a wonderful park that parallels the river.  I was impressed with the floral plantings....many of the same flowers that grow in Atlanta in the early spring, but in different garden arrangements.  We visited skyscrapers for photo stops and went up the Jinmao Building, the 2nd tallest building in China and among the top 10 in the world.  Bill had lots of fun snapping photos from the observation deck!  Our final stop that morning was at the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Research Institute, located in a European - style building in the former French Concession.  There were awesome examples of various Chinese art forms, and of course, the ability to buy affordable souvenirs.


The Bund

Convention Center 






                                                                   views from Jinmao Building

 Orient Pearl Tower 


Notice the ugly air quality in the photos from the Jinmao Building.....what looks like a poor quality shot or a very overcast day is really smog.  Smog will be mentioned again in this blog!

There is still more to blog about....the town we visited the day after our sight seeing in Shanghai and then of course, the time in Beijing.  Tune in tomorrow, faithful reader, for another update!

















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