Weekend in Shanghai

We went to Shanghai last weekend to hang out with my Dad who was there on business and to explore the city!

We decided to fly to Shanghai rather than taking the overnight train so that we could spend more time in the city. Of course our plan was a little delayed as the first plane we boarded had mechanical issues, but we were transported to a new plane pretty quickly. We were however a little nervous about how we were going to get on plane #2....










but luckily they found a spare gangway for us to use!

We arrived in Shanghai Saturday afternoon. We stayed in Pudong, an area filled with many businesses and international hotels. All in all we had a great time exploring the city and catching up with my Dad. Shanghai is a very cool, cosmopolitan city - we enjoyed good shopping, great food and just walking around the city, soaking in the sights...

We toured around the Yuyuan Gardens, which were built during the Ming Dynasty. Even amidst all the crowds it was still very peaceful and beautiful.










We had some very yummy food including hairy crab, which is a Shanghai specialty in the Autumn. It was a little messy and a lot of work to eat - but yummy. Will especially liked it!










We went to a great fabric market where we you can have clothes made-to-order, I definitely could have spent a lot of time there!

We really enjoyed strolling the Bund, a river-walk along the bank of the Huangpu River.











It was a quick trip to Shanghai but a lot of fun to check out another city!

Anniversary Weekend!

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary this weekend - we met 3 years ago at a Halloween party - a toast to Elena for throwing the party!

Friday night we discovered a little, very authentic Italian restaurant right near our apartment, who knew!? We enjoyed some good red wine (which can be a hard find here!) and some yummy pasta.

Saturday was a beautiful, cool fall day so we decided to take advantage of it and do some exploring outside. We went to a street known for its art supplies and scrolls. We wandered along and after lots of harassing by anxious vendors we stumbled into a serene teahouse and befriended Li Jhai, proud Manchurian and formal Chinese tea aficionado. He shared his insight regarding Chinese tea etiquette. He also gave Will and I some marital advice, helped me on my Chinese pronunciations, and offered to go into business with me to start a Chinese tea house and etiquette business in Boston - we'll see what happens there!

After our shopping/tea extravaganza - we went to what has become one of our favorite pubs here - the Rickshaw. We recently watched the Sox in Game 3 at the Rickshaw and have developed a liking for their Tsing Dao happy hour beer special. Rather than going out to our swanky "anniversary dinner" reservation, we decided to stay and enjoy happy hour at the Rickshaw - it was a fun night!

We're off to Shanghai next weekend - stay tuned for an update on the blog!