After checking out the alleyways of 'Old West Gate'，we looked around for a good place to grab some breakfast. We finally settled on a place that had rou jia mou, what I would call, basically, a Chinese hamburger. It is braised meat, shredded and put between an English-muffin-esque bun. We ate two each, as well as a rice porridge (xiao mi zhou), a hard-boiled and an over-easy egg, so needless to say, it all tasted great. J chided that the restaurant staff was probably thinking, "dang, these two eat a lot!"
Well, the rest of the day we did enough walking to more than make up for the big breakfast. Our next stop was Xi Tian Di, literally "new sky earth".
Xin Tian Di is a newly developed area of Shanghai which caters to foreign tourists. It's mostly restaurants and souvenir shops, all done in a very fashionable, outdoor-shopping-along-a-promenade type style. We passed up the Starbucks, but couldn't resist the coffee and free wireless internet connection at The Coffee Bean.
It was nearing 1pm, so we headed over to the Shanghai Museum, where we easily spent 3 hours checking out the exhibits on the four floors. The museum was certainly a highlight of the trip, and it was fun to get the audio guides to get some background information on many of the pieces, such as 5,000 year old iron wine vessels, and spectacular Jingdezhen "China porcelain" with under-glaze cobalt blue designs and stunning wucai (five-color) vases and dinner platters. J commented how amazing it was to see pieces that she'd only seen in books up until now, and I to agree that looking at 5,000 years of civilization was nothing less than breathtaking.
Nevertheless, the museum closed at 5pm, so we shuffled out of there, and headed over to Yu Gardens where they have a famous take-out shop for Shanghai xiao rampo dumplings, filled with pork and crab. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to buy 16 small dumplings (for about $3), but each one was a steamed bun of perfection.
After that, we strolled down to the riverside to take a look at the skyline from the west side of the Huangpu River. As we walked along the pier, we could see the old British and French buildings ahead of us, which have been preserved in all their splendor. As it was nearing 10pm, we searched for a ferry to cross back to the east side of the river, where our hotel was, and were lucky to find the last one leaving at 9:45. We paid about 2 yuan each (about 0.20 cents!) and the ferry delivered us to the other side in just 10 minutes. Later, finally back at the hotel, we collapsed into bed, exhausted and having had a great time.
Well, the rest of the day we did enough walking to more than make up for the big breakfast. Our next stop was Xi Tian Di, literally "new sky earth".
Xin Tian Di is a newly developed area of Shanghai which caters to foreign tourists. It's mostly restaurants and souvenir shops, all done in a very fashionable, outdoor-shopping-along-a-promenade type style. We passed up the Starbucks, but couldn't resist the coffee and free wireless internet connection at The Coffee Bean.
It was nearing 1pm, so we headed over to the Shanghai Museum, where we easily spent 3 hours checking out the exhibits on the four floors. The museum was certainly a highlight of the trip, and it was fun to get the audio guides to get some background information on many of the pieces, such as 5,000 year old iron wine vessels, and spectacular Jingdezhen "China porcelain" with under-glaze cobalt blue designs and stunning wucai (five-color) vases and dinner platters. J commented how amazing it was to see pieces that she'd only seen in books up until now, and I to agree that looking at 5,000 years of civilization was nothing less than breathtaking.
Nevertheless, the museum closed at 5pm, so we shuffled out of there, and headed over to Yu Gardens where they have a famous take-out shop for Shanghai xiao rampo dumplings, filled with pork and crab. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to buy 16 small dumplings (for about $3), but each one was a steamed bun of perfection.
After that, we strolled down to the riverside to take a look at the skyline from the west side of the Huangpu River. As we walked along the pier, we could see the old British and French buildings ahead of us, which have been preserved in all their splendor. As it was nearing 10pm, we searched for a ferry to cross back to the east side of the river, where our hotel was, and were lucky to find the last one leaving at 9:45. We paid about 2 yuan each (about 0.20 cents!) and the ferry delivered us to the other side in just 10 minutes. Later, finally back at the hotel, we collapsed into bed, exhausted and having had a great time.
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