July 9 in China

 We started our day early...wake up calls came at 4:45 am. The box breakfast was a bit better than the last, so that was good. We boarded the bus, and drove to the airport for a 7:20 am flight. This time we were on Shanghai airlines. A bit odd...the first row of the plane was row 25 (not sure what happened to rows 1-24???) and there were no seats D, E, F, G, H, or I. There was A, B, C, J, K, & L! Well, it was A nice, smooth flight.

Shanghai is beautiful! They say it is the picture of the future China. If you took all the Chinese characters off the buildings and billboards, you could be in any big US city. Except...there ARE 23 million people here! High rise after high rise after high rise. The driving might possibly be A tad bit better, but not much!

 

The Seagull

 We met Bei, our guide...who gave herself the American name of Grace! We drove around with Bei pointing out landmarks...and then headed to the Seagull restaurant. It's in a beautiful section of downtown on the waterfront. The building itself is shaped like a seagull...thus, the name! We enjoyed yet another delicious meal... I have to say, after 9 years with P2P, this years food is equal to only one other years as far as excellence! That was an Australia/New Zealand itinerary.

 Nick had a special moment...and that was his uncle, who he hasn't seen in about 4 years (and lives here) come to the restaurant and pick him up for the rest of the day and night! I'm sure they're having a grand time!

 We spent a bit of time on the waterfront...beautiful...and then headed to the Oriental Pearl Tower! If you don't know about this, google it! Wow! We rode an elevator up to an observation deck...with a great view of Shanghai..and then took a few stairs down to the Skywalk. Another wow! The skywalk circles the tower and has a clearly floor...not for those with a fear of heights! Standing there, you look at your feet and can see the ground below. We took lots of photos...pretending to hold on for dear life, of pretending to fall... Lots of fun!

 Can you guess which of these buildings is called 'The Can Opener"?

 If you look closely, you can see people walking by the opening of the Can Opener!

 We had a bit of time to shop around there...and off we went to our new hotel... We freshened up and headed to a PIZZA place! The group was excited when they heard that. There was even ice cream for dessert...no watermelon!

Back at the hotel. 18 of us went for a walk for about 45 minutes. Most delegates (and leaders) a have been doing some laundry. We are here for 2 nights...and it's our last time to be in the same hotel for 2 nights in a row.

Wifi is only in the lobby...so it's time for bed checks!

John David, Lynne, Pam, Laner... Would you send me your Address???

Until tomorrow!
~Judy