Parks, Museums, and Swag, Oh My!

We had a full day yesterday, starting by exploring People's Square, a large park and gathering area that was originally built by the British as a racetrack in 1862 and has since held prominent roles in the Japanese occupation of Shanghai in the 40's and during the Cultural Revolution. Today, it is a popular gathering place and is surrounded by several museums and other attractions, including the Shanghai Grand Theatre. From the Square, we headed into the Shanghai Museum, which houses Chinese calligraphy, paintings, sculptures, pottery,and much more dating back to as old as the 15th century BC. Pretty amazing.

 

After getting a healthy dose of culture, we visited the annual Expat Expo, a huge convention of promotional booths for anything you might ever want. With over 20,000 Americans living in Shanghai alone, not to mention the huge number of Europeans, Australians, etc., there are many businesses catering to Western tastes (food, medicine, travel, schools, etc.) Though we're not all that interested in getting entrenched in that world here, we were happy to take advantage of free lattes, wine tasting, and oodles of swag. We left with a yoga mat, a poster, maps, coupons for free beers, and a 200rmb gift certificate for a local spa (enough for a good foot massage, at least), among other things.  

We topped off the day by buying the movie, "Away We Go" from a street vendor on the way home for about 80 cents. What a day! Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41697057@N04/sets/72157622414050920/.