Saturday in Shanghai

We spent today sightseeing around Shanghai with another Heritage family. It was rainy when we got up, but dried out during the day although it's still very cloudy. The Oriental Pearl Tower was pretty cool, reminded me of the Space Needle - at least the observation deck did as you walk around the whole building high up in the sky and can see the city in a 360 degree view.

After lunch at a dumpling and noodle restaurant, we visited a shopping area that was in an old section of town and that led to a beautiful walled garden with a lot of ponds and koi.

Our final stop was at the Bund, which is an area of old colonial-style building. It looks more European than Chinese. There is an area where you can walk along the river front there and we were really the object of a lot of attention. At one point there was a whole circle of people surrounding us. It wasn't completely clear what they were interested in, though the guide was answering questions about adoption and several people were very concerned about Bethany's lack of a jacket (she'd left in in the van). One older lady was very insistent that Charlie take off his vest and put it on Bethany and the crowd was happy when he finally did. Bethany just thought it was a hoot.

We are back in the hotel having a rest for a couple of hours then going out to dinner with the other family. Tomorrow --Hefei!