Trying to watch the Germany/Spain semi-final but for some reason, CCTV is showing us Germany/England. Huh?
Got up early this morning and took the subway to People's Square where we walked up the Nanjing Pedestrian Street and saw the Chinese early morning ballroom dancing and tai chi. We continued on to the Bund where we were unable to see the interior of the Peace Hotel because it is still under renovation construction. We walked along the river for a bit and Susie left us to come back to the hotel and shower before catching her train to Jinan. Suzannah and I then walked up Fuzhou to check out the art supply stores and Foreign Languages Bookstore.
Next, to the Shanghai Museum where we stopped at the cafe for beef fried rice and curry chicken before continuing on to the bronze, jade and ceramics exhibits. A bit of shopping at the museum store and then on to the French Concession.
We started a Lonely Planet walking tour and were immediately rewarded with the Xin Tian Di shopping district, a less than 10 year old renovation of shikumen in the long tang. Wonderful examples of European exteriors repurposed to cafes and stores with an excellent little museum showing the neighborhood changes and preservation work.
We bailed on the remainder of the walking tour due to the heat, arriving back at the hotel around 5 pm with time to lounge a bit before dinner at 1221 again.
Lightning did not strike twice. While the food tonight was good and well prepared, it did not measure up to last night's stellar choices. The service, while still friendly and professional, was quite a bit slower.
After dinner, we headed back to Xin Tian Di to check out the after-dark scene which was quite a bit more crowded, buy breakfast for tomorrow at Paul, and then back to the hotel to check out the train schedule to Suzhou for tomorrow's adventures.
We're going to try to get up early, get a train to Suzhou and back, do some sightseeing, get back to the hotel to gather our belongings, and get to a different train station to catch our 9:30 p.m. train to Beijing. It should be quite a day if everything goes well. It could be quite a disaster if everything doesn't.
We'll plan on the former . . .
Shanghai at night is amazingly colorful with LED light shows on the buildings and bridges. Creates quite a sense of vibrancy.
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