Homeward Bound

Heading home today - it's been a great trip full of amazing sites and experiences. And I'm ready to be home and in my own environment.

 

The rest of the gang had a morning flight, so they all left the hotel at 7 am. My flight doesn't leave until about 5 pm, so I have a final day in Shanghai to myself. I decided to visit the Shanghai Urban Planning exhibit. I was drawn to this because they have set up one room of their hall as a full scale model of Shanghai and I love stuff like that - maps and dioramas speak to me! :)  I thought the exhibit was well done and really enjoyed it. It was also interesting to see the future plans for Shanghai including the new 'smart' home/city technology that they are looking at.

 

Getting to and from the exhibit was an adventure in itself. The Shanghai subway system is really very easy to use, but definitely not for the faint of heart! The station near my hotel was very easy - I purchased my ticket and found the right line easily. Once I arrived at my destination stop (People's Square), it was a whole different ball game. This station is HUGE! It's at least 3 levels (3 subway lines converge here), and spans several city blocks. I wanted to be sure I exited at the right location for the building I needed so I checked on a map - there are 20 different exits for this station!

 

I didn't mention in my blog from yesterday, but I had a 'preview' of the subway system last night. When we finished dinner, we rode the subway back to the hotel so I had a little bit of knowledge before going in on my own.

 

I spent about an hour or so at the Urban Planning center, then went back to the hotel area, found a place for lunch (salad and dumplings) and then sat in the hotel lobby reading until my driver showed up. Both flights were fine and uneventful. My entertainment from China to Toronto was watching a 6 part mini-series called the Book of Negroes. I had recently read the book so I was happy to see the series available to watch. I was quite surprised to find that I went through US Customs in Toronto - I kind of figured I needed to be in the US to go through US Customs, but what do I know??? 

 

I arrived in Minneapolis as scheduled - got home and into bed within an hour or so of arrival. Ready to get some good rest and try to kick this cold that I picked up in the last few days of the trip.

 

China is an amazingly diverse and beautiful country. I'm not sure if I will visit again, but you never know...  The visa is good for 10 years so we'll see if it calls out to me again in the future. For now, I can say that I am very glad that I went and for anyone considering a trip, my top 3 attractions were the Great Wall, the Hanging Monastery and the Terra Cotta Warriors.