our first day in shanghai

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our first day in shanghai (text)

...our hotel room @ the fenyang garden boutique (absolutely gorgeous w/ teak wood everywhere, even inside the closets)

...the view from our personal balcony

...coffee & chicken's feet for breakfast.

then it was off to the shanghai arts & crafts museum to see some of the local artists at work.  there were several magnificent examples of gu embroidery (flossing on gossamer silk) with such great detail we thought they were paintings at first glance.  there were intricately cut paper works that appeared to be created with lasers rather than steady hands.  there were brightly lit colored paper lanterns often used for ceremonial purposes...

we did an exploratory walk-about around the french concession district (our hotel is in the heart of this quaint neighborhood)...

...and then we headed for the people's park, home to the shanghai museum.  this iconic building houses everything from bronze artifacts which date back to the 13th century bc...

...to some traditional pillows (i like them firm, but this might be overkill).

...a great first day all in all, topped off with a few beers at jenny's pub and mussels & pomme frites at dakota's, and we made it back to the hotel just moments before the heavens let loose and filled the night sky with lightning flashes, thunder booming and a steady rain which we enjoyed from the haven of that aforementioned balcony!

(ps. sorry but the text is not posting with the pics for some reason today...will try to work on that some more in the days to come)

we have arrived...

with plenty of time on the 15 hour flight, i strung several bracelets & a necklace for our pearl girl.  the fortune cookie dessert with meal #2 (of 3 total) contained some encouraging rhetoric and helped to bolster our endurance.  we landed in shanghai and have 'settled down' nicely at the fenyang garden boutique hotel... taking to heart the suggestion of the customs & immigration bureau...

opting to 'settle down' in china...

test post 2 (picture/text from the ipad)

 time to meet the parents... hang on baby girl, we'll be there next week!  stay tuned... (hopefully we'll be able to update to this blog each day while in country for those waiting @ home).

test post 1 (picture/text from the iphone)

...finn found this "pearl" @ the beach on the morning of the day we received word of PA (pre approval) from china to begin the process of pearl's adoption... a bit of foreshadowing!