Guan Qian Street and Center Park

We were ready for a simpler day, so after having lunch at TGIFriday's, we walked behind it towards Guan Qian Jie, which I wrote about last time we were in Suzhou and called it "Walking Street."
We found a fun little store which Leah liked and found some treasures to buy. At the end of the little street with this store was a Christian Church. We knew that there were some around, but didn't know where. Maybe next time we're here we'll check it out better. We spent quite a bit of time in a DVD store. It's amazing all of the American movies they sell (all copies, but they make a real effort to make them look legitimate!). We got an assortment so we'd have movies to watch back at the apt.
We went into the old shopping area and Jim sat and people watched and took pictures while Leah and I shopped. When the prices aren't marked, you are expected to bargain. It is certainly easier to shop where the prices are posted, but I'm getting the hang of bargaining! At one place, I was told it would be 90RMB for what I wanted to buy and ended up getting them down to 38RMB! I think that's average, but, I was proud of myself for doing it on my own!
There is a 1300 year old temple right in the center of the old shopping area, it is called Xuanmiao Taoist Temple or The Mystery Temple. The temple itself didn't look very busy, it looked like you may have had to pay to enter, or maybe that was just for tourists.
After shopping, we walked down the modern walking street a little then out to the main street and caught a taxi.
We went to Center Park, which is right across from the hotels where Jim used to stay when he traveled here for Tyco. They had a children's play area set up and Leah really enjoyed the jumping set-up - not sure what they're actually called! It cost a little over $2USD for her to jump for almost 10 minutes! We walked through the park and enjoyed the many statues. We were planning to have dinner at the Scholars Hotel where Jim used to stay, but their restaurant was closed for the holiday. We ended up at Papa Johns instead. The Papa Johns and Pizza Hut in China have much more varied menus than in the US. Then we went back to the hotel to watch a movie!

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Part of trip: Nanqiao, Fengxian, China #2

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