Caitlin, Madeline, Perrie, and Hannah in front of the ShangHai Museum
Good Morning! Here in ShangHai it is 6:15 a.m. on the morning of June 19. Back in Arizona it is 3:15 p.m. on the afternoon of June 18 (at least I think it is).
Yesterday was such a wonderful day that I want to comment on it before it fades into memory (my memory is not what it used to be). I woke up on June 18th at 3:30 and spent some time on the computer here in my room. Then I woke my daughters up by taking a flash picture of them as they lay sleeping in bed with their stuffed animals clutched in their arms. We went down to the breakfast bar as soon as it opened at 6:00 am. The food was so good....we just sat there and pigged out, kept going back for more and more food. There were pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, croissants, bagels, and then all the traditional cooked to order food with everything from fresh noodle soups to omlettes. Our favorite was the dragon fruit, which seems to be impossible to get in the US....the only times we have been able to enjoy it is on our Asian trips.
At 9:00 we met our guide Laura in the hotel lobby. We changed US dollars into Chinese RMB (also called yuan), for a day of shopping. What a day of shopping!!!! Laura knew exactly the right places to take us.
Our first stop was the ShangHai Museum, filled with artifacts from China's past. When I say "past" I mean items going back into prehistory like 200 BC, all the way up to the present. First, our guide Laura took us through the furniture exhibit, which included both functional and decorative pieces from many dynasties. The kids were UNDERwhelmed. So we split into groups, and Marilyn and I spent most of our time viewing the Chinese paintings and porcelain. We could easily have spent two days at the museum, but only had about one hour there. All four girls spent our time at the ShangHai Museum sitting in the lobby outside of the gift store and listening to their iPods.
Next stop, the pearl store!!!! OH YEAH. First we were given a demonstration of how to find pearls in both fresh water oysters and salt water oysters. It was very informative, especially learning about the different colors and shapes of pearls. Caitlin was not happy that several oysters had to be sacrificed in order to get at the pearls inside of them. We found about a dozen tiny pearls in the one fresh water clam that we opened up, though they were not of jewelry quality and will be used in cosmetics such as pearl cream or facial mask. ore and listening to their iPo
Then we went inside the store. OMG....there were rows and rows of the most gorgeous jewelry I have ever seen. We bought a bracelet for Hannah, a ring for Perrie, and some gifts. I was not going to buy anything, but Paul insisted and he bought me some pearl earrings....the color is amazing. They are kind of deep blue/green. They are sea pearls, which is why the took on the colors of the minerals in the area of the ocean where they grew. My pearls probably came from a 7-8 year old oyster based on their size and quality.
Then we went to a restaurant that was on the second floor of an embroidery store. I cannot adequately describe in words the beauty of the embroidery. I am not talking about clothing...these are framed works of art that look so real they could easily be mistaken for photographs. They are made of silk thread as skillfully embroidered into landscapes, wild animals, people (Lady Di was so real I thought it was her photo), and scenes of daily life. We ended up buying a fairly small framed work depicting a person getting water from the riverbank in ancient China. We negotiated the price down to $160 US dollars. Some of the large wall-sized works of art cost over $30,000 US dollars (these expensive works of art included free shipping to your home address).
More about our afternoon and evening later. Time for breakfast now. Cathy
Yesterday was such a wonderful day that I want to comment on it before it fades into memory (my memory is not what it used to be). I woke up on June 18th at 3:30 and spent some time on the computer here in my room. Then I woke my daughters up by taking a flash picture of them as they lay sleeping in bed with their stuffed animals clutched in their arms. We went down to the breakfast bar as soon as it opened at 6:00 am. The food was so good....we just sat there and pigged out, kept going back for more and more food. There were pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, croissants, bagels, and then all the traditional cooked to order food with everything from fresh noodle soups to omlettes. Our favorite was the dragon fruit, which seems to be impossible to get in the US....the only times we have been able to enjoy it is on our Asian trips.
At 9:00 we met our guide Laura in the hotel lobby. We changed US dollars into Chinese RMB (also called yuan), for a day of shopping. What a day of shopping!!!! Laura knew exactly the right places to take us.
Our first stop was the ShangHai Museum, filled with artifacts from China's past. When I say "past" I mean items going back into prehistory like 200 BC, all the way up to the present. First, our guide Laura took us through the furniture exhibit, which included both functional and decorative pieces from many dynasties. The kids were UNDERwhelmed. So we split into groups, and Marilyn and I spent most of our time viewing the Chinese paintings and porcelain. We could easily have spent two days at the museum, but only had about one hour there. All four girls spent our time at the ShangHai Museum sitting in the lobby outside of the gift store and listening to their iPods.
Next stop, the pearl store!!!! OH YEAH. First we were given a demonstration of how to find pearls in both fresh water oysters and salt water oysters. It was very informative, especially learning about the different colors and shapes of pearls. Caitlin was not happy that several oysters had to be sacrificed in order to get at the pearls inside of them. We found about a dozen tiny pearls in the one fresh water clam that we opened up, though they were not of jewelry quality and will be used in cosmetics such as pearl cream or facial mask. ore and listening to their iPo
Then we went inside the store. OMG....there were rows and rows of the most gorgeous jewelry I have ever seen. We bought a bracelet for Hannah, a ring for Perrie, and some gifts. I was not going to buy anything, but Paul insisted and he bought me some pearl earrings....the color is amazing. They are kind of deep blue/green. They are sea pearls, which is why the took on the colors of the minerals in the area of the ocean where they grew. My pearls probably came from a 7-8 year old oyster based on their size and quality.
Then we went to a restaurant that was on the second floor of an embroidery store. I cannot adequately describe in words the beauty of the embroidery. I am not talking about clothing...these are framed works of art that look so real they could easily be mistaken for photographs. They are made of silk thread as skillfully embroidered into landscapes, wild animals, people (Lady Di was so real I thought it was her photo), and scenes of daily life. We ended up buying a fairly small framed work depicting a person getting water from the riverbank in ancient China. We negotiated the price down to $160 US dollars. Some of the large wall-sized works of art cost over $30,000 US dollars (these expensive works of art included free shipping to your home address).
More about our afternoon and evening later. Time for breakfast now. Cathy
Yes, there is Starbucks in China!!!!
This is awesome... I was wondering where the posts were. Good to see there is a workaround for when we are traveling too!
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