Down Time & Preparing to be Tourists

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We are planning and preparing for our journey to Xi'an. After sleeping in again (yeah!), Chris takes us for lunch. This place has a great menu for us since there are large, color pictures. Chris orders his favorite pork and pepper dish. We also get some stir-fried cabbage and a clear noodle dish.

Julie gets her regular craving for ice cream. We make a quick visit to McDonald's. I'm not an ice cream fan, but maybe I will get an apple pie. Even though the burgers are exact, the fries look perfect, apple pies are not available. There's pineapple and taro only.

We head to baby central to get our mandatory Eris time. We (well mostly Chris) work on an itinerary for our jam-packed touring day. It’s a tight schedule and we are hoping there's enough buffer time in between trains, buses and being tourists. Our interpreter, Melody, arrives to go over the plans. She tells us she has been researching our destinations so she can tell us more about what we are seeing.

After jumping into a cab, we arrive at the train ticketing office. The employee is still behind the glass. She is shaking her head and pointing at the clock with a barrage of Chinese. We are clearly too late. That's what happens when you are sidetracked with visiting a super wonderful little baby. After investigating the pharmacy next door "just to see", we hop in another cab to an actual train station.

The station is sprawling, majestic and modern. But just like any train station, it’s teaming with riff-raff and we hold our bags close. The lines are LONG. Our interpreter tells us that the lines are always long. Once we get closer to the ticket window, people start to stand much closer than we are used to in the USA. Both Julie and I feel like our personal space is being encroached as a man practically rests his head on my shoulder to see and hear what I am doing. We finally secure our tickets for the bullet train to Xi'an. Our interpreter is very surprised and pleased that the information that we previously found on the web actually matches the train station information.

Back at Chinese Grandfather's apartment, it’s more wonderful food. A noodle dish which is noticeably dry from other noodles dishes we've had paired with a peanut and rice porridge. Duck eggs accent the meal. These eggs are hard-boiled and peeled. It’s one of the only foods so far that I'm not that thrilled about. The taste is very strong. So I stick to my noodles and porridge.

Next is the execution of our plans to Xi'an and the Clay Soldiers.

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Photos

Lunch
Pork and pepper dish, stir-fried cabbage and a clear noodle dish.

McDonald's
Always at least three employees waiting for customers.

McDonald's
I'm Lovin' It.

Luoyang Street View
This is a building with a giant peony the top. Its lit nicely in the evenings but I haven't been able to get a good shot of it at night.

Dinner
Dry noodles dish, peanut & rice porridge & duck eggs

Comments

[cy]

Another good read Bette ~
good pics too ~