The Apartment

Sunrise, view from Jacob's room (Vic's room during the visit)

We are 20 floors up; look down and you can see the men working, and the shanties where they sleep.

View toward the road from the balconey.

View of the grounds

This is Matt and Renee's apartment building; their apartment is on the corner, 20 stories up.

Bird's eye view of the grounds

You can see the rectangular "cut outs" that light the garage below these grounds.

Children's play area from above.

The grounds and play area.

Maddie hanging on tight, and coming down the rope.


View from the balcony over neighboring towers.

Vic taking photo of self from the balcony and into the living room.

Living area from the entry way; Maddie is watching a tape.


Living area from the dining area.

The actual seating area was quite cozy.

View from the kitchen through the dining area and to the living area. We would stand in the kitchen and close this door and call folks back in the States.

Looking out over new towers; the stove is on the left.

Alcove, Jacob's chair, and water bottle, just adjacent to the kitchen door.

Matt feeding Jacob; the kitchen is in the background.

The dining table was made of frosted glass and wood. This was our last breakfast: Renee bought Indonesian rendang, and noodles.

Getting ready to leave for the day.

Light fixture in living room and Jacob's room.

Study area, and children's play corner.



The green pull out couch made a very comfortable bed.

Maddie's room; Paul and Carol's guest room.

Jacob's room.

Master bathroom.

Master bedroom.

First morning in Shanghai: Watching the moon set

View from the balconey

First Night in Shanghai With the Kids

These photos need no words. How happy was C.C. to be with her grandkids? Very.

Danshui Road, a walk near Renee's Hospital

As Renee was being checked out of the hospital, Auntie took a stroll down Danshui Road.

People walked, strolled, biked, and sat along the street.

A mynah bird sits in its cage under colorful laundry, and set against a backdrop of modern buildings.

The street was self contained, with houses, shopping, and personal activities in full view. I couldn't determine whether these cats were pets or strays. Very cute.


Eating lunch on the sidewalk.



Alcove where people live.

Two hours at the Dragonfly

At this point, I want to say something about Matt and Renee's hospitality. Not only did they put up with three tough old birds (who are very opinionated), but they opened their house to us, moving the kids from their bedrooms, paying for our taxi and subway cards, and picking us up from the airport in a private van. They treated us royally.

Wow.

Then, on day #1, while Renee was still in the hospital, they arranged and paid for a fancy 2-hour whole body and foot massage at a fancy massage place called the Dragonfly.

The young lady massaged Carol, the young man worked on Auntie. You also see a photo of Carol cool, calm, and collected before, and a photo of her after she's been stretched, pummeled, and massaged on every square inch of her jet lagged body.

Thanks, Matt and Renee. We'll never forget these days with you in a very special country.

Thumb Plaza, where we shopped almost daily.

Looking for Carre Four, a comb, and a soft drink! We then headed for the hospital to visit Renee. Paul took a nap on the floor, and the kids mistook him for a jungle gym. I was mesmerized with the super clean marble and tile bathroom. Double wow!

Next stop, a walk through the neighborhood and our first authentic Chinese meal.

A Day in the Kitchen

As with all the photos on this blog, double click on the image to get a better view. We spent a pleasant afternoon in the kitchen, baking cookies with Oma's chocolate chips. Maddie added the chips and stirred the dough.

Fen cooked breakfast and lunch every day, and sometimes dinner. Here you can see the stages of her dumplings, including making the pork filling for the dumplings, filling the dumplings and shaping them, steaming them, and drying the washed bamboo steamers on the balcony.

Here's what a steaming pot of dumplings looks like. This video is only 10 seconds long.

Check this blog regularly, sweeties, as Auntie will be placing the rest of the photos here over the next week or so.

Eating in Shanghai

We ate delicious food cooked by Fen (note the dumplings and the noodles), and at a noodle bowl restaurant in Suzhou. We also ate out at two fancier restaurants, which I will talk about later. As you read this post, you can click on the bolded, underlined words to access the links.



Vic's favorite street food was pan fried pork dumplings



One afternoon, Fen made us hot pot. Vic's camera was stolen, so here is a photo of the delicious hot broth in which you cook your vegetables and meat. I loved the thin sliced pork, mushrooms, and greens, and dipping them in Fen's special sauce. Here's a very short video of eating hot pot.





I was very proud of Paul and Carol for trying Octopus on a Stick. Again, that image was on the stolen camera. Darn. Here is a photo of the octopus.