Last day in Shanghai

Once again, we had problems sleeping last night. We fell asleep around 8, woke up at midnight, and finally feel back asleep around 4am. We woke up around 8am (unwillingly might I add) and went to breakfast. We loaded up on caffeine, went back to the room for an hour or so and then went out on the town.

Our plan for the day was to go to an area called Yuyuan Gardens. This is one of the only areas left in Shanghai that maintains the "old" Chinese look. Much of Shanghai is filled with new age sky scrapers so we were excited to see a different part of the city.

We left the hotel around 11 and went straight to the Metro. We were shocked by how many people we saw on the way to the Metro and at the Metro station! It was easily double (if not more) the amount of people we saw on Thursday. Let me just say, if I can make it through the subways in China, I can do anything! It was quite the experience.

This is just outside our hotel. Starting to see some conjestion.

This is inside the Metro station. You can see there are a lot of people. Unfortunately I don't think the picture really does the experience justice!

And this is Nanjing Road...a little different scene than 2 days ago, huh?

We started our walk to the gardens, by way of Nanjing Road and The Bund. Here are a couple of things we saw on our way:

Lots of people (I don't think I have ever seen so many scooters and bikes in my life)! You gotta be careful of them too....they don't often slow down for peds.

This is a bronze lion (actually a replica of the "real" bronze lion) that sits in front of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Apparently it brings good luck if you rub the lion - so of course I made sure to do so!

I thought this was an awesome picuture of the Pearl Tower and the Chinese flag!

And this was a very cool boat we saw along the Huangpu River. We knew we were getting close to "old town" when we saw this.

We had a few minor problems finding "old town" but we eventually got there. As soon as we rounded the corner we saw the buldings change. My body went into sensory overload with all the people, sounds, food smells, and shopping. It was incredible!

This is what all of the buildings looked like in this area.

And again, you can see there were lots of people!

We shopped and wandered for a while and then went into the gardens, that were right in the middle of all of the shopping. The gardens were a nice get away from all the noise and people - don't get me wrong the gardens were still crowded, but it was a much different scene.

In front of one of the 30 different pavilions in the garden area.

Just beautiful! Although I think it is rather amusing that you can see sky scrapers in the background.

So many Koi fish in one of the ponds.

I thought this tree was awesome....Kevin is OK too! :)

One of the very few pictures we took together this trip.

Kevin in front of a few pavilions.

I couldn't help myself....the hole in the rock was so inviting.

The whole garden was surrounded by these dragons.

I thought this was pretty cute!

This bridge was pretty cool.

Although we didn't get to see much, we had an awesome trip! We were very intimidated at first, but everything turned out great. We are looking forward to the possibility of going back next year, and maybe actually getting to see Hong Kong too.

We are finally home now - after 24 hours of traveling - and it feels great! At this point, I do not have any more trips planned with Kevin, but I will continue to update with happenings in our life. My surgery is scheduled for May 8, so that is definitely the next big step for me! I can't wait to travel again as a new, healthier person. Thanks again for your interest in our travels! Stay posted!