Sunday, November 23, 2014

Nov 5th Wed–Shanghai

We sailed into Shanghai, one of the busiest ports in the world, as part of an armada of ships sailing in and out of the port.

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We were met at the dock by Chris our guide, and we and Noreen and Ken headed into Shanghai.   The first stop was the Bund, a mile long plaza with great views of the financial center.  The monument in the first picture was for the major wars; each of the three pillars represented a major war; the opium war, the war with Japan (WWII), and the civil war that resulted in the communists taking control of China.  The tall tower in the third picture is a TV/radio tower and the tall building, which is under construction, is a civic building.   In the foreground is just one of about eight wedding parties we saw.  The city is very modern, with an incredible number of strikingly modern buildings, all built within the last 25 years.

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We had a very nice lunch, and then went to an area called the “old market”, filled with shops and restaurants.

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While in Shanghai we saw probably Mc Donalds, Starbucks and 30 KFC’s.  But we also saw that you could get the more traditional chicklet on a stick.

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We then went to the Yu Garden, which was a delightful garden with maze of small buildings and gardens.  It included these great doorways between areas, and many water features.  The top of the buildings all had ornamentation, and this wall is famous for the dragon sculpture.

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At one of the water features this young girl feeding the Koi.

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We then went to the Shanghai museum where we had a little over a hour to look at some of the bronze artifacts, such as this container, and the traditional ward robe for some of the many different cultures in China.

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We finished the evening with a stroll in a busy commercial section of the city; before our trip back to the ship.

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