Skyscrapers and Lamborghinis

Monday, November 24, 2014
Shanghai, Shanghai, China
It may seem impossible, but the breakfasts seem to be getting bigger! Dave had reached overload and just had a bowl of cereal. The one constant, good coffee.

After breakfast, we went through the tunnel to the east side for a tour of Shanghai's 3rd tallest building, the Jinmao Tower . We shot right up the elevator to the 88th floor in seconds. Unbelievably, there was no sense of motion.

The views from the observation level on the 88th floor were breathtaking.   The new #1 tallest building shot up 40 floors above us as we looked out one side. On the other, the rvier and the Bund were far below. Maybe the most spectacular view was looking down through the center of the Jinmao Tower to a hotel lobby 40 floors below -- the Grand Hyatt, the world's tallest hotel.

Jo had told us that Xi'an was China's past, Beijing (the capitol) it's present and Shanghai is the future. From this high perch, we could see what she meant. This whole east side of the river did not exist 25 years ago.

After lunch, we headed to the Bund, a beautiful park/walkway on the east bank of the Huangpu River which separates the old and new sections of Shanghai. The Bund is on the old side and looks at the skyscrapers on the east side, including the three tallest buildings in Shanghai (the tallest is nearing completion and is over 120 floors) .  

The buildings along the Bund have a very clear and distinct European feel, like nothing we have seen anywhere else. History tells us why. After the opium wars of the mid-1800's, concessions were made to Britain, France and Germany who were "carving up China like a turkey". Shanghai was one of those concessions and the European trading houses moved in.

The Bund is the financial district of Shanghai and, therefore, many of the banks are located in the European buildings that parallel the river walkway. A "larger than Wall Street" bull designed by the same person who designed the bull on Wall Street dominates one section.  The river promenade wall is alive with live vegetation planted in single pots that can be replaced when one dies. We walked quite a long way to the Monument to the People's Heroes and past the statue of Shanghai's first mayor, a dead ringer for Mao Zedong.

Following our Bund visit, we took a bus to the first pedestrian shopping street in China .  It had very high-end stores as well as department stores that were filled with locals. It was a common theme in our group that we could not get over the shopping and cosmopolitan feel of Shanghai -- in many respects it trumps Manhattan!

Our last stop before dinner was in the Xin Tian Di (New Heaven Earth) area, a very trendy spot where modern restaurants, bars and shops are found inside old facades. We were hoping to go in the Communist Party's Museum, but it had closed a few minutes earlier. We had about an hour to wander and opted for an outdoor table at a German place and had a good German beer while Brennan sipped on hot chocolate. On our walk to and from the Xin Tian Di, we passed a Lamborgini show room. Dave pushed Brennan in for a photo op, but as soon as a salesman saw us we were shooed out -- got the picture though!

Dinner was at a nice hotel, but since we were stalling to go to the acrobatic show, we kept Brennan occupied by going up and down the escalator and looking around the second floor .  

The Shanghai Acrobats were in a very high-end mall with lots of lights and a grand lobby (convention-center like).  The staged area must have seated 500 people. The audience was mostly tour groups and all nationalities were represented. The show was tumblers, tight rope walkers, knife throwers, plate spinners, balancing acts, etc.  Half of the performers could have made China's Olympic gymnastics team. Brennan really loved the show and when the knife thrower asked the audience for a volunteer, Brennan's hand shot up. Luckily, Grandpa pulled it down before he was spotted. He laughed the entire way through that act as the knife thrower pretended to throw at the poor blind-folded tourist.

What a great way to cap off a truly amazing day in Shanghai.

 

 

 

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