Shanghai Skyline at Night

From a visit to The Bund.  We were admiring the skyline when all of a sudden a giant, lit up pirate ship sailed by.  Ha!

Downtown Shanghai

One day in Shanghai we visited the current tallest skyscraper, the building pictured above which has a top that kind of looks like a bottle opener (hehe).  That strip at the very top, across the hole, is a glass walkway.  The first photo is a picture of the inside.  Isn't it cool?  And the floor also has panes of glass in it to walk across - eeps!  I thought I might be kind of nervous walking around it because I'm a little uncomfortable with heights, and I did feel a little flutter in my stomach when I first stepped super close to the windows, but overall the view was so cool that I got distracted looking at everything and forgot my butterflies.  After we left, I skipped visiting a temple with the group to walk around downtown, I guess what would be considered the business district, for a bit.  It actually reminded me of Chicago in some ways; the architecture is really cool and it has a garden area in the middle of all the skyscrapers (nothing compared to Millenium Park, though).  I strolled along an elevated walkway past all the buildings, and stopped in the park to take it all in and enjoy the weather, which was beautiful that day.  Pretty awesome afternoon! 

PS:  To get to the observation deck of the skyscraper, we had to take a couple elevator and escalator rides. The main elevator had these futuristic lights and music playing; it kind of reminded everyone of Charlie and Chocolate Factory :)  Here is a quick video of part of the ride:

China!

I returned home from the China tour with my university orchestra not too long ago, and have since recovered from jet lag, packed up my apartment in Lexington for the summer, and gradually worked my way home to Wisconsin after making stops in Indiana, Chicago, finally arriving in La Crosse, and then took a quick trip to Madison for the past couple of days to fill in for a cello section in need of subs for a concert.  Whew!  China was a really cool trip!  It's fascinating to see a place that operates so differently from our own country.  There were definitely some highlights in the tour, including visiting the Great Wall and exploring Shanghai.  I've started looking through the photos that everyone on the trip is sharing, and these are some of my favorites so far.  That's me in the nook of the Great Wall!  Wow that was such a beautiful scene.  The top is from a visit to a famous garden, and the bottom the Shanghai skyline on a hazy (slightly polluted?) morning.  I am excited to share more photos and stories!

Take care everyone!
xomo