We went to the Shanghai Museum. It is an exquisite building, housing an amazing collection. Since we only had a few hours to see it, I’m afraid we had to run through the museum. There simply wasn’t enough time to look at everything very carefully.
After lunch, we decided to forego the silk factory tour. We were both exhausted and, frankly, it sounded like a shopping trip more than anything else. I can’t say that we did anything exciting with our free time. We sat and read and tried to catch our breath a bit.
Before dinner, we visited a Children’s Palace. Basically, it is a type of boys and girls’ club where children can study music, art or dance. The children were utterly charming and some quite talented. Nevertheless, it was not clear why this place was a stop on our itinerary. It had elements of the old “friendship meetings” when visiting the Soviet Union.
At the end of the tour, we were led into a large shop without a seeming exit. We were told that the things were made by either the students or the teachers. Since I had seen several of the items for sale in other places, I’m not certain how accurate that statement was. After everyone made their purchases, the shop people revealed the hidden doorway to the outside.
The building itself was well worth a look. It was a classic example of an Art Deco building.
After dinner, we headed for The Bund, which is a walkway along the river in the old International Settlement. The place was stunning with its lights, but the fog/smog was so heavy that our automatic focus had a difficult time taking a photo of the buildings, even though they were dramatically lit. It also felt as if all of Shanghai was there that evening. The place was mobbed. It started to rain, although the rain didn’t seem to clear the air any. It was still difficult to see across the river at times.
Tomorrow, most of the group is flying home, but six of us are pressing on for the post-tour to Xi’an and Yangtze River Cruise.
