Day Three 12 April 2015 - Shanghai

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Full day touristing in Shanghai today, starting on the Bund with a visit to the Fairmont Peace Hotel previously known as the Cathay Hotel built by Sir Victor Sassoon between 1926 - 1929. This was once the most prestigious Hotel in Shanghai and had many celebrities and heads of state as guests. Next on to the Old City and a visit to the Yu Garden or Garden of Happiness whose construction began in 1577 and contains classic Chinese features.
Now a shopping opportunity or so the pedlars of Wolex watches kept insisting but of more interest is the street food being pushed from a variety of stalls.
Time for lunch at a riverside restaurant and our first taste of Chinese food although it looked particularly tame in comparison to that being consumed by Chinese customers on adjacent tables - possibly dumbed down for the western palate ?
Culture slot after lunch at the impressive Shanghai museum of ancient Chinese art. The museum contains a million pieces of which 130k are regarded as national treasures. In the limited time available we skimmed the main galleries with Bronzes, Calligraphy, Ceramics, Furniture, Jade and Coins on display in numbers.
On the journey back to the hotel a short visit to a pearl emporium where we learnt how to distinguish between fresh water, sea water and plastic pearls and more importantly how to avoid buying any such items.☺
After a day of serious touristing we retreated to the spa to relax our weary bones before heading out for dinner and an acrobatic extravaganza.
( note to self must try to stay awake when the lights go down next time ) The bits I did see were very good, not too sure about the rest..zzzzz
Tomorrow on to Suzhou known as the Venice of the East and our guide's home town. A short journey by rail at a mere 180 mph !

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Comments

[Rona]

Loving the blog and pics Paul. Have a great time . See you both at the gym when you get back