our cruise is coming to an end...

Today is our last day on the Victoria Princess (insert sad face here). We went through the 5 stage ship lock at the Three Gorges Dam the day before yesterday. It took nearly 4 hours to get through them all. We had previously had a 2 hour tour looking around the dam site, we drove on a bus to the top of the dam and had some great overlooks of the locks. So..by bus we went over and past the dam in about 10 minutes, but by boat, through the locks it took all evening.

 

We are getting much better at bartering. The class didn't teach us much technique, but we learned the phrase for "that's too expensive". We're finding the best technique is to just walk out. If they really want to sell it to us for our price they chase us outside the store with the calculator (to continue bartering) and the item we were looking at all wrapped up and bagged.

 

We learned to play Mahjong the other night. I think they taught us the most simple version (we didn't get to use the North, South, East, West, Flowers, Dragons tiles). The version we learned was similar to Rummy 500. We get to play again this afternoon after we learn how to make dumplings. They crew have a very difficult job of serving our meals, cleaning our rooms, and entertaining us. They have put on several fashion and talent shows (based on the chinese culture) throughout the trip.

 

Sailing through the Three Gorges was magnificent. It was rather foggy, but that made the area mystical. We got on a smaller boat (glass top) and explored a lesser gorge so we were able to be a little more up close and personal with the steep jagged mountains that line the now flooded gorge. The water level is almost at the max the dam can hold. It can hold water up to 175 meters above sea level and we are traveling on water at 165 meters above sea level. So, we're essentially seeing the completed effect of the Three Gorges Dam. The guides joke that they will have submarine tours in the future to see the old Three Gorges area before it was flooded.

 

When we disembark for shore excursions our local guides all tell us about the new home the government gave them since their town was flooded. They talk about how much bigger and better their new home and their new town is.

 

Well, I'm going to sign off before I lose the connection.  Happy Easter!

 

(tomorrow we visit some Pandas in Chongqing and fly to Xi'an where we'll see the Terracotta Soldiers...more updates when we can!)

 

 

 

 

Greetings from Shanghai!

We weren't Shanghai'd, we came willingly and are having a blast!  Adrian and I arrived in Shanghai two days ago and have enjoyed the assistance of a private tour guide for most of our stay thus far. We did adventure for a full day on our own and felt pretty proud of ourselves.

 

Our tour guide, Cindy, picked us up at the airport and showed us around the city a bit then got us squared away at our hotel. Yesterday, we successfully navigated the Metro system and ran a few "errands" which included booking a hotel room for later in our trip near the ferry terminal (where we'll take the ferry to Japan). We found a hotel with a very nice man who spoke no english at all. With a combination of sign language (hands together by our ears for 'sleeping'), pointing to "I'd like to make a reservation" in the phrasebook, and a calendar, we got a tour of the rooms, picked the one we want and made a reservation. We paid $22 for a very nice room with a TV and computer. Yesterday we ate lunch for less than a dollar. We are lovin' the cost of living around here. Our four star hotel stay downtown for the past two nights cost $70/night and included breakfast.

 

(The breakfast buffet certainly provided a lot of interesting options...this morning I had some green glop! Literally. It tasted like green tea and had the consistency of mochi which is a very glutinous (super sticky) rice. It looked like something from a Dr. Seuss book.)

 

Today, our tour guide (who goes by Cindy) picked us up at 9am and took us around the Yu Yuan Garden, a fresh water pearls wholesale shop where they cracked open an oyster and showed us 17 pearls inside, a silk museum (on how silk is made) and then to the Shanghai Museum. It worked out well to have her book our tix for the Yu Yuan Garden and the Shanghai museum in advance. There were long lines at both and we slid right in. The other two stops were lures for tourists to get us to buy Shanghai products, but it was fun to see how silk is made! I did purchase some pearls. They were such a deal! The Yu Yuan Garden is a 400 year old (after being re-built several times) home and garden built by a rich retired man. He was a treasurer in Chongqing and took his big money to Shanghai when he retired to built a little world he could be ruler in. It was a fun place to tour traditional chinese buildings and gardens. 

 

We did a one hour speed tour with head sets in the Shanghai Museum. Adrian is really good at speed museum visiting. We covered a lot of it. There were bronze cast cooking items, bowls, wine goblets, etc from 1100 B.C. I can't even comprehend how long ago that was.  It's a really good museum. I recommend it to those of you heading to Shanghai in the future.

 

Right now, we have boarded our Yangtze River Boat cruise. We're about to pull away from Shanghai for 9 days of the river life. We've got a great room with a little balcony. We plan to do a lot of sightseeing and relaxing. Tomorrow morning there are tai chi lessons before breakfast and chinese bartering lessons after breakfast. We've had one very unsuccessful attempt at bartering so far. We can use the lessons.

 

All in all, we are doing great in China and looking forward to more adventures.

Spring is in the ground!

People say Spring is in the air, but I disagree. It's still pretty chilly here. I do are Spring in the ground. There are many fun green things sprouting up from the dingy, brown, tired ground. Pretty soon Boston will be covered in beautiful blossoms!

World Travelers

This week we are disembarking on a 5 week delayed and extended honeymoon!  First stop, Shanghai. From there, a 10 day cruise up the Yangtze river, a visit to Xi'an, a few days in Beijing, then back to Shanghai, a boat ride to Osaka Japan, and two weeks of play time in Japan!

 

We are so proud of ourselves for packing this weekend. We are literally, packed (zipped up) and ready to go three days in advance!

 

I'll try to post as we move through our travels, but no promises...  Don't worry, we'll have a blast!

My dad is 60!

I'm still coming to terms with the fact that my Pops is 60. He says I can go ahead and forget it, but how can I? We went out to Cali for a GREAT party. He didn't know we were coming and that was half the fun.

 

Saturday morning my eyes popped open (they, apparently, were still on east coast time) so I walked over to M&D's house from Sis's house while A and Sis were enjoying their Saturday morning snooze. When Mom came down to answer the door, I learned that they too were enjoying their saturday morning snooze (before the doorbell rang).  I walked up to the bedroom and surprised Dad in his sleepy state. He literally did a double take. It was fun to watch the surprise, shock, and glee pass through his face. Then, of course, there was lots of hugging and happy birthday wishing. (I'm glad I didn't give him a heart attack. He is a little older now.)

 

Mom threw a shabang of a party with a seated four course meal for more than 15 people. Butternut squash soup, salad, corned beef and potatoes, dessert. Sis helped with the dessert, being the fabulous pastry chef that she is becoming. Her apple pie and fruit tart were "to die for". Seriously, Dad's friend Tim said the apple pie was an "experience". It was the most flavorful apple pie I'd ever had in my life. As is customary to our family, we decided that two desserts (as yummy as they were) would not be enough. We supplemented Chef Mara's creations with a carrot cake from Costo. This made for a great airplane snack!

 

After good conversation (meeting Dad's friends) and with full tummies, we introduced the crowd to the game Apples to Apples. This is a game that anyone who can read can play. Look it up. Seriously, if the folks at a 60 year old birthday party have fun with it, and believe me they did, then you'll like it too!

 

It was nice to be in the warm weather of Cali for a weekend. We felt like such jet setters. I even made it to the gym with Mom. The step class instructor was flattered that I'd travelled all the way from Boston just to be in his class. He has hopes that I'll make him world famous.

 

We're glad we were part of Dad's big day. He really doesn't seem any different than he was at 59. You're still young Pops (despite the teasing). Thanks for letting us all celebrate your birthday with you.

 

 

Restaurant Week!

We LOVE Restaurant Week around here. Check it out at www.restaurantweekboston.com. All the participating restaurants offer a three course meal for a fixed price. Some people act fancy and say prix fix. Lunch is $20.09 and dinner is $33.09. Appetizer, entree, and DESSERT! I'm sure you can figure out the significance of the 09 cents... (hint: the year is 2009).

I spoiled myself this week. On Tuesday I got to have lunch with A! We joined S & J at Clink. The building used to be a jail, and is now the fancy Liberty Hotel. Lunch was delicious. I started with a peach/pear soup. It was creamy and warm, which surprised me. Most fruity soups are cold. It was delicous. Three of us had the cuban pork sandwich for the entree. The bread was inside out! Picture a baguette sliced in half ready for sandwich making. Then flip over both sides and make the sandwich on the crusty side. It was panini'd so the "inside" of the bagquette was all buttery and toasted. It was a delicious sandwich that came with a side of sweet potato fries. For dessert, it was the apple cranberry cobbler all around. I learned that I like the fruit in my cobbler baked more than left intact as raw fruit. The puff pastry topping and vanilla bean ice cream was superb! We left there stuffed.

On Wednesday, 7 of my coworkers and I trekked over to Smith & Wollensky (always a good bargain for restaurant week, because it's uber expensive). I started with the split pea soup. It was good, but a little gritty for me. I guess that's the naturalness of the pea coming through. It felt wholesome. For the entree, I enjoyed the filet mignon steak sandwich (medium rare) which came with a few giant sweet potato wedges and a pickle. For dessert (two hours later), I had to go with the chocolate cake. It was GIANT. I brought most of it back, and you won't believe this, gave the leftover to a coworker who was sick yesterday and couldn't come to lunch with us even though she had been looking forward to it for weeks. I shared my chocolate cake. I shared my chocolate cake. I shared my chocolate cake. I will survive. (She super appreciated it, being as there is no cupcake cart that comes around at 3pm every day).

I learned a few things at Smith & Wollensky.
1. The castle it is located in was built in 1891 to house the first US Army Corps Cadets.
2. It later turned into an armory and then a museum.
3. As part of the restaurant's lease they are obligated to display the museum artifacts (civil war flags, guns, etc).
4. Anyone (even you!) can go into Smith & Wollensky and ask for a tour at any time. A manager will show you the museum items on all four floors.
5. Lunch is not supposed to take longer than one hour. Ours took almost 3!
6. Smith & Wollensky management understands the problems with a super long lunch. (They made our entire bill FREE and gave us a free creme brulee for the table!)

In conclusion, I LOVE restaurant week.

Isn't Beantown great?