TravelStream™ news feed for member wetwo on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/wetwo en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:55:59 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1212363900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1212363900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1212363900/tpod.html Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:55:59 -0400 World Trip - 2008

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Montreal, France

Just a quick note so that you know we made it alright and so the Travelpod can finish the map around the world. I want to add up all of the mileages we did. We bought a 29,000 mile package but to that we added flights around China, and to Phuket, drove in New Zealand and Australia and took the ferries and trains in Italy.

Our last day was not without incident. Van to airport at 7:00 a.m. with the van shared with 2 other couples, one of whom live in Montreal and were on the same flight as we were. The driver got into a heated debate with another cab driver with English swear words thrown in for good measure. As we had checked in by computer the previous day we were able to by-pass the big line and just check in our luggage. Only problem was that we were'nt thinking when we had our bottle of Lemoncello in our carry-on (too big, over 100 ml) so I had to remove some breakables, put them in Cheryl's carry-on and go back out through security to check in my backpack with the Lemoncello. Good thing we had lots of time. Everyone was pleasant though the same guard allowed one Flight Crew member to carry a bottle of booze through Security! Awful airline food, Air Canada. We had been spoiled in Paris. What, no Manta Ray? 2 flight rescheduled with an extra 3 1/2 hr. in Montreal for a 30 minute flight. We almost could have walked home. Also, even though you buy Duty Free and they put it in a Tamper-Evident bag (in Paris) you can't carry it on for the second flight (in Montreal). Again, checked luggage. Everything made it however.

No real problems with customs. We had to declare what we had sent while away even though at that point it hadn't arrived. (It since has. One arrived last Tuesday, the other on Wednesday. All we are waiting for now are our TerraCotta Soldiers from Xi'An.

Kim met us at the Airport in Ottawa. Home 17 weeks, 1 day and almost 12 hours later. Photos to follow. I've got 11 gig to go through.
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Paris, Île-de-France, France

What a great location. Thanks for the tip Doris and Al!

After an all-night train ride. We got the top bunks, 2 university kids (boy and girl) going to Pepperdine University in New Jersey but attending Humanities classes in Florence got the bottom bunks. Sounds like a great way to study. They were taking a weekend off from their studies to go to Paris. 15 hours scheduled made longer with a 1 1/2 hr. stop for something. Cheryl heard them change the engine. Maybe it was the Little Engine that Couldn't or maybe it was changing the crew when we went from Italy to France. Anyways it was a long trip with little sleep.

The train rolled into Berzy Station which isn't that far out of the downtown but far enough that you need an expensive cab ride or a subway ride. The subway has the same name for the station but to get from Train to Subway you have to negotiate several flights of steps and walk about a block. (And the elevator and escalators were "Hors Service". Only 2 stops but about 10 minutes later we were close to our hotel. Four short blocks and 3 stops to ask direction and we were there. L'hotel de la Place du Louvre not to be confused with the L'hotel du Louvre which is around a corner and a lot more expensive. From our 3rd floor window which is really the 4th floor because the ground floor is 0, the basement "the Cave" for breakfast is -1 we looked out straight at the gargoyles hanging from the eaves of the Saint Germaine des Auxerrois church (I don't know how old it is but the style is like the Notre Dame Cathedral with flying buttresses (and gargoyles). Probably 17th century. Off to the left, across the street and maybe 80 yards away was one side of the Louvre Museum, the king's former residence. Across the street the other way was the Seine and walking distance away was the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Saint Michel restaurants and shops. What a great location!

A terrific lunch at the L'Auxerrois restaurant 3 doors down the side street, great bread - a Parisian specialty and Lefte Beer and a very good house wine, a walkabout along the Seine, another fine meal on the Left Bank and then we caught up with sleep missed the night before.

On the 24th we did our usual ON/OFF bus tour (2 days, 24 euros each) which took us to all the normal tourist stops: got off at the Trocadero which is across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. They were getting ready for a concert so some of the area was blocked off. We learned later that the concert was to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary. As the line-ups at each of the legs of the Eiffel Tower were >45 minutes we limited our picture taking to ground level looking up. We did take in a boat cruise down the Seine and back We walked around the Les Halles and Montmartre and another fine meal. Why is it that Parisiens aren't all over 300 lbs?

Feeling adventurous, and it being a Sunday, we hopped two Metro lines to go down to the Port des Vanves Marche aux Pouces. Most things were overpriced but we Cheryl did make a deal for a duck decoy. Everyone else goes to Paris to shop at Chanel, Dior, or at least the Lafayette Dept. Stores. We get the Marche aux Pouces. Caught up with the ON/OFF bus (the Car Rouge) and off at the Champs Elysees. An o.k. lunch at a fast food eatery similar to McDonalds. Do you know that McDonalds (upscale to McCafe) is everywhere, even on the Champs Elysees? Up the Arc de Triomphe (only 285 steps, a piece of cake to us Great Wall of China veterans). Paperacci (spelling?) with telephoto lens trained on a restaurant down below, perhaps one of the Entertainers. Oh, Sunday May 25th is Fete des Meres in France. Cheryl got 2 Mother's Days this year. Maybe the duck decoy was her gift! Back on the Bus, over to Notre Dame for another great meal, and some souvenirs. We heard that the sights are all lit up at night and were going to take them in but even after 9:00 the sky was still quite light and we're getting used to early nights so we didn't wait for them to turn on the lights.

Monday May 26th- last full day in Paris. Cheryl was museumed out so went shopping. I was shopped out so I museumed. Museums are closed on Tuesdays except the Musee D'Orsey where I headed which was closed on Mondays. Back through the Toullieres Gardens and I noticed not bad line-ups at the Louvre so I went to pay Mona a visit. The Louvre is HUGE! Fantastic statues and paintings - 4 full hours and I only covered 2 wings of 12 and even then I had to bypass some impressive works. Plan several days. I took in the Babylon Exposition which was winding up the following day. Some of the inscriptions were 5000 years old and still very legible (if you can read Ancient Babylonian). I also took in the Italian Renaissance painters including Mona who had several hundred admirers while I was there.

Met Cheryl back at the hotel (as it had started to rain again) and had another wonderful lunch at the Auxerrois restaurant. At the owner's suggestion, I tried and enjoyed Manta Ray with a light lemon seasoning. Spent the rest of the day getting ready for homecoming. 121 days on the road. We're ready to come home! Miss the kids. Miss Sydney and Charlie. Europe was great but let's do it again.
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Rome, Lazio, Italy

This is a second attempt. I tried sending from Paris but I guess the Internet timed out before I pressed send and I wasn't smart enough to save as I went along. We're home now but I'm sure you're all wondering what happened those last 7 days. In a word, plenty. Here's Rome. By the way, this is the normal keyboard. I don't have to go searching all over to try to find out where the put the "w" etc.

A fairly simple trip from Sorrento. We took the hotel shuttle into town (with our new suitcase it's a lot easier to roll) then the Regional Train, the Circumvesuvio to Naples. The stories you hear about the garbage in Naples are all true. Everyone is complaining about the garbage pilling up but there is nowhere else to put it and the people complaining are also the people that don't want a new dump in their backyard. Sounds familiar! We could see the piles of garbage (from the train) at many street corners and the local TV interviewed people complaining about the rats. The piles are 20 feet high and 50 feet long (at least). The Italian PM has promised to clean up the streets but has run into the problems with the local mafia who control the garbage collection and landfills. Should be interesting.

We took a 1st class train (1 1/2 hrs.) from Naples to Rome and arrived early afternoon on the 19th. As has been our wont, we toured around the neighbourhood, first booking an overnight train from Rome to Paris for the night of the 22nd. If you plan this, do it early. We could only get shared sleeping quarters. More when I talk about Paris.

On the 20th we took the ON/OFF tour bus of the Roman sights to get our bearings. We did get off at the Colluseum which we didn't have time to visit two years ago when we were in Rome before. It was interesting, the line ups weren't too long (shorter for those wanting to rent the Audioguide which we did). We were just about finished working our way around the Colluseum when the skies opened up. We waited out the worst of it then made a dash for the next tour bus. We knew that it was going to rain and brought our umberellas but why didn't we bring our raincoats too? Senility! We did dry out enough to finish a tour and back to the hotel.

I'm sure that there's lots of fine eating establishments in Rome. We just didn't find any. They were o.k. but maybe we've been spoiled. CNN and early to bed.

The next day we hopped on the subway to the other end of town to see what the Pope was up to. It turns out that every Wednesday he addresses the crowd. The weather being iffy he decided to meet us in the Basilica. I've seen pictures but the actually being there is mighty impressive. He did keep us waiting for about 2 hours and another 1/2 hour to get back out through the crowd. After a blessing and the Lord's Prayer we were on our way. Oh, and by the way, he said to say hi to you guys and gals. And Rollie, he said it's about time you visit the confessional again.

We had our best Italian meal just north of St. Peter's. The restaurant was run by mom, dad and the daughter. The food was great so they didn't have to mind their manners. We were told to "Sit Down", the meal was intersperced with banging and yelling between the family members, real entertainment. I captured some of it on video so John can tell me what they said but we could figure out that that they weren't happy with each other.

We walked back via the same route we followed 2 years ago past the Castle SaintAngello, the Spanish Steps (yes I had to climb them again), the Trevi Fountain (I threw a coin in to ensure that I come back but Cheryl didn't). Do we travel apart next time? and past the Augustus Forum for photo ops.

We had most of the next day (Thursday the 22nd) with free time as the train didn't depart til 6:30. I checked out some of the many museums around town while Cheryl checked out the stores. She also had a nap which proved helpful as sleeping was hard to come by on the train. Details of that trip to follow.

Synopsis: glad we went there but it was rainy and we didn't find great food. Would we go back to Rome again? Maybe but there's other places we'd want to see first.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1211406600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1211406600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1211406600/tpod.html Wed, 21 May 2008 12:06:04 -0400 World Trip - 2008

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Sorrento, Italy

3 nights in Sorrento. We were there for a few hours as part of a tour from our Mediterranean Cruise 2 years ago. We loved it then and we still love it.

After 4 cab rides, 2 ferries and a 3 hour bus ride to get there from Corfu we were tired. We stayed at the hotel the first day, had a swim, and a great meal at the hotel. A little expensive for the 5 course meal (25€) ea. but everything was delicious. The waiters were real Italians schmoozing the women. Sorry John, I'm just reporting what I saw. The hotel is just on the edge of Sorrento before Massa Lubrensa on a hill (hills everywhere) overlooking the Mediterranean. Clouded over just before sundown so I didn't get great sundown pictures again.

The second day we took the shuttle into town. We needed , and bought a new suitcase. After 40,000 miles (I'm going to add them up) the wheel that was flat and was dragging popped off. Could have been the cobblestone streets. Just as we remembered Sorrento, nice little shops, some reasonable rates and great food. Rollie. Add this to your list too! Shuttle back for dinner. Although we've walked 10,000 miles (it seems) we are probably gaining weight.

Sunday we took a tour into Positano on the Amalfi coast on the other side of the Sorrento peninsula. The bus dropped us off half way down, we walked down the back staircases to the sea past some nice but expensive shops and dipped our toes in the Mediterranean (still cold although some were swimming). Back up the hill enough to catch a local bus which took us up the rest of the way to the tour bus. A pleasant visit. The road is cut into the hill with a vertical drop to the sea below. Not for the faint of heart. Imagine driving a Z4 along the road. At least here there was a barrier fence although I saw a few spots where there had been repairs.

Monday we took the shuttle to the Circumvesuvio (local train) to Napoli (lots of piles of garbage at each corner) then first class 1 and a half rail to Rome. Arrived 1:30. Arrivaderci. Ciaio!
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Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece

May 9 to 11th

Train to airport in Munich delayed due to jumper onto tracks (saw the body bag) but we had lots of time to spare. After check in we sat in the courtyard for liquid refreshments whilst (there's that word again) we were serrenaded by a men's chorus). Every airport should have a beer garden. Sun shining, beer cold....

Late night flight from Athens to Corfu via Olympia Airlines arrived at hotel around 11:30 (good thing we changed our watches back one hour otherwise it would have been after midnight). Hotel is ok. Nothing special. Pool open but too cold. A couple of Germans swam though.

Weather in Corfu though south of Germany was cooler than Germany. Nice when the sun was out but overcast most of the time we were there. This stop was planned as a rest after the previous 4 weeks of go, go, go and basically that's what we did. A few walks around the peninsula, a trip into Kerkyra (Corfu Town) for shopping and sightseeing the old streets and fortress and that's about it. We might of had a tour of the island but the weather wasn't great. Tried out different restaurants, made friends with the proprietor of one who had lived in New York City for 12 years (and therefore had better English than most) and vegged.

Leaving is an interesting story. 4:00 taxi to ferry station, ferry delayed to 6:30, 1 & a half hour ride past Albania to Immonista (spelt wrong) on the Greek Mainland, taxi from domestic port to international port, overnight ferry to Bari Italy, cab to train station to learn that the next train wasn't for 5 hours BUT there was a bus to Naples which left soon, was cheaper, and took less time than the train, followed fellow passenger to the bus, 9:00 am bus arrived Naples shortly after noon, then local train Circumvesuvio to Sorrento, cab to hotel arrived 1:50 (about the time the train would have left Bari). Everything fell into place, thankyou Lord!

I'll tell you about Sorrento when I get to Rome later today.

Still having fun but missing home, Paul
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1210615620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1210615620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wetwo/1/1210615620/tpod.html Mon, 12 May 2008 14:21:28 -0400 World Trip - 2008

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Salzburg, Austrian Alps, Austria

May 10th we were picked up early (7:50) for a 10 and a half hour day trip to the Alps. We were thoroughly entertained all the way by our guide Clark (check munichclark.com). Salzburg is definitely a GO TO AGAIN city. Beautiful views, clean, and music everywhere. I won the prize for being only one of four per year who is able to name the 8 countries bordering the Alps. Test, no cheating. I won a bottle of water.

We visited the Fortress and Mozart's home but I remember most the singing including a high tenor singing Ode to Joy and Ava Maria. Darren, what do you call a tenor who sings in the high range. It was one month short of our 36th anniversary. Ode to Joy was the song that Cheryl and I came up the aisle with.

After lunch, again with the street food, good stuff, we were back on the bus. Past the lake used in the Sound of Music. Interestingly the chateau which is on the lake in the movie is actuallz 50 km away. We also saw the graveyard where the Von Trapp family first hid out from the Nazis. We saw the mountain they supposedly crossed many km away.

Another story was of the Archbishop who had a lot of power in the neighbourhood. He got married. No problem! He married a Jew. No problem! They had 16 kids. No problem! (Except for the mother giving birth.) He decreed that the Catholics (the majority here) should not discriminate against the Protestants. BIG problem. He was imprisoned and was starved to death for that.

A nice ride along one of the Alpine lakes, St. Wolfgansee, and back to Munich for dinner and bed.
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Munich, Bavaria, Germany

May 9th to 11th

A long trip. 12 hour flight but with the time change it was only 5 am when we landed. A train downtown (S8) to the Central Station and a short walk (made slightly longer as we took the wrong street) and we were at the Best Western. Not bad. Great coffee while we were waiting.

As the room wasn't ready yet, it's only 8 am we walked back to the station and bought tickets for the City Tour Double Decker Sightseeing Bus. We visited the King's Summer Palace. It's huge. Not as big as the Chinese Emperor's but quite impressive with chalets around the square to house all of the hangers on. No photos however as I had failed to change the battery in my camera. You'll have to take my word on it or look it up on the web.

A delightful lunch on the boulevard of Weiner Shnitzel und beer. Of course. Good wine too. There is wine in China but it's no so good.

Back for a nap (Cheryl couldn't sleep on the plane) then back out on the bus for the rest of the tour. We got off before the end at the Marienplatz Plaza and street food at Victualienhof (or something like that) with beer and bratwurst and wine. Met a couple of backpackers who were heading back home to Vancouver. They asked us if it would be alright to sleep at the airport. Didnät know but told them of Cindy and John's experience...not much sleep. Spent the 10th on another day trip ..to Salzburg Austria subject of another blog so that we get credit on travelpod for another country. Speaking of countries, we flew over Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, the Ukraine, Belarus (I think), and Poland on our way here.
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Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

May 6 to 8th.
Back again after a bit of suspense at the border. Left my backpack on the bus on the Mainland China side. You are supposed to take everything off the bus, walk through customs (filling out forms) from China, cross No Man's Land, then fill out more forms to come into Hong Kong. Half way through I realized I didn't have my bag. Couldn't go back. In the meantime Communist China customs had found my bag, stopped the bus, and searched my bag. They found my computer but were stymied because the battery was dead. 1 and a half hours later I got my bag back. Cheryl, outside waiting was worried I was being strip searched and imprisoned.

Best part of 2 days in Hong Kong doing many of the same things, shopping, as we had the first time around. We had a better feel for what you can get so Cheryl got better bargains this time. We toured the harbour twice, killing time and getting a bit of breeze on a hot day. The air was cleaner this time and we got to see more of the mountains that surround the city. There is a story that one emperor, fleeing the Monguls from the north, settled in. He asked the name of the place and was told it was Nine Dragons. When he counted the mountains he could only count eight. The ninth, he was told is you. The emperor, being all powerful, is the ninth.
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Shanghai, Shanghai, China

Ni hao!

3 terrific nights in Shanghai. We arrived late in the day due to plane delays and rain in Beijing but made up for it on the Maglev (magnetic train) at 300 kmh. 7 minutes for 30 km! A short cab ride and there we are, right by the river, a corner room, overlooking the Russian Consulate with the river behind and the Bund. Not only that, we were treated to a light show. We wondered what all the crowd was about on the Bund. Now we know. On weekends (every weekend night?) the building light up as in Hong Kong. Even better as the air quality was better so you didn't have to look through as much smog. Sailing along the river, in addition to the barges and the tourist dinner boats were advertising ferries. The ferries were outfitted with Jumbotron sized advertisements. On a building on the Pudong (opposite) shore was a high rise office tower with movies projected on the side. Probably 20 stories high (the picture that is, the building was higher). Just below us was a monument to the People's Heroes (this is a Communist Country after all). At the base of the monument was another light show intersperced with the words "Welcome to Shanghai". We felt welcomed! After dinner we found a convenience store, some wine, some pop and water. When we asked for a second bag the answer was "No". No reason, oh well.

On the fourth we woke up to a drizzling rain so, after breakfast we took the short shuttle to Nanjing Street, one of the shopping streets in town, this one with a Pedestrian Mall. Not a bad thing to do on a drizzly day. A few (more) purchases later then we walked back down the Mall to the Bund. Offers to buy Rolex watches, postcards, toys, everything. Oh, Cheryl's got quite the story of the young Chinese woman going into the washroom to be confronted by a western (non-squatter) toilet. She stood on the toilet, and looked over the partition at Cheryl then used the toilet as though it were an Asian one.

Yesterday was a busy day. Up at 5:30 to catch a tour, we were the first ones on the bus at 7:45 for a 1 1/2 hour ride out to Suzhuan famous for its gardens. The first garden, called the Humble Administrator's Garden, was far from humble. It was several acres of water and rocks and pavillions with photo ops everywhere. There were a few flowers in evidence but mostly it was your typical Zen Garden. Cheryl took lots of pictures. I have a feeling we'll be designing a Zen Garden in our backyard this summer. Somewhere to put our Terracotta Soldiers I guess.

The tour also took us for a very nice lunch all Chinese, but we were assured there was no donkey or dogs on the menu. A stop at Silk Factory No. 1. I now can boast that I am the owner of a pair of silk pyjamas. We continued on the Zhou Zhiang (and I know I spelt that wrong). It's a water village, so the tour included a boat ride through the canals. For 30 yuan more, gathered from the 7 passengers, we were also entertained by the woman, our oarsperson, singing some local songs.

1 1/2 hours later we were back for a quick bite, to freshen up, and then a cab to the Acrobat Show. This was the BEST! I was picturing Ed Sullivan introducing a Really Big Show. Every act was fast paced and spectacular. Lots of movies, most of which turned out. I'm going to try to add the pictures to the blog. I've got time. Cheryl's gone back to pick up "a few more things" at the Shopping Street whilst (there's that word again) I update the blog. We catch a 4:00 pm flight to Shenzen, a bus from there back into Kowloon, then a cab back to the Kimberley Hotel where we stayed 3 weeks ago. Two nights there and then a loooong flight to Munich.
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Beijing, China

After an uneventful flight (short delay seems to be the norm) we arrived in the Capital, Beijing for a four day stay. Kim, another winner. The hotel was so-so but the location was great.

We tried out the hotel's dining room and were less than impressed but we've been spoiled by some great hotels in the past. The first morning we walked down the street about 2 blocks to the North Entrance to the Forbidden City, called the Palace Museum here. Remember your walking shoes as this place is immense.

I kept a copy of the map of the palace grounds because I can't remember all of the courtyards, and pavillions located on the site. There's a Hall of Celestial Harmony, a Hall of Eternal Peace, a Hall for Virtuous Living, and a hall for just about every positive human expression. Now that it's a tourist site some of the halls are now Halls of Beijing Olympic paraphenalia, halls of soft drinks (some of which include flavoured milk, apple flavoured milk is not bad). Some of the sites are being renovated. Will they be completed in time for the expected influx of tourists for the Olympics? I'm sure that the Chinese will do everything possible to make it so but there's so much construction underway.

We walked the Forbidden City for about 3 hours and maybe saw 1/3 of the part that was open. We made it to the South Gate and were looking for a place to sit and rest. We did find a nearby hotel, the Beijing Grand. Go there if money is not a concern. Very nice! Very expensive. My lemonade was $7, Cheryl's tea was $7, and the coffee cake we shared was about the same. The stores in the hotel had $1000 shoes for sale. I'm sure they're wonderful but I'd rather spend the money on more travel.

After resting we took a cab to the Pearl Market. There is everything at the Pearl Market, including pearls. I bought a 254 gig flash drive for $40 and Cheryl picked up a nice pearl necklace. They must be good, we got a Certificate. We'll see how good a deal we got when we get home.

Dinner at a nearby Noodle House, yellow python in an aquarium at the door, 2 loud Mynah birds, and lots of ambiance. We were the only ghosts there. Did I tell you about "ghosts"? Apparently long ago when white men arrived they were called "ghosts" due to our colour. With most Chinese taking skin lotions to look whiter I'm actually darker (from 3 months of travelling) than most Chinese. 2 cab drivers refused to take us back not wanting to fight the traffic from there to our hotel but one did agree for an inflated price.

The second full day in Beijing we booked a tour. A 7:00 a.m. start for a long drive out to the country and the Great Wall. The driver knew the right roads as we made good time, the highway beside us was stopped dead for at least 14 km. as it was the first day of the 3 day International Labour Day holiday. We made it up the easy side of the Wall. Only 1000 steps this way, the other side was steeper and had 1400 steps. It was early thankfully as the day got hotter later on but the mist/ fog/ smog meant the views were'nt as far. Still, a spectacular site. Just beyond the part that has been refurbished was what remains of the original. Almost completely gone with just a pile of bricks where the guard towers were and what looked to be a foundation for the wall.

We also got to visit the Ming Tombs. There were 13 of them but visiting 1 was enough. More steps, more great edifaces and pagodas. The tomb itself has not been excavated supposedly for the same reason as the rest of the Terracotta Warriors. There is concern that opening the tomb would lead to deterioration. They're also concerned that the tombs may be rigged with traps that would kill any intruders. Not sure, good story though.

Of course we had the mandatory stops at shops along the way. Nice jade carvings, silks, at probably decent prices but how much is too much. The last stop was a (free) foot massage. A reflexologist talked about how treating the feet cures many ailments. A Tibetan Doctor diagnosed our troubles just by looking at our hands. According to him I have high blood pressure and kidney and prostate problems, Cheryl had liver problems. We did buy some medicine to cure us. Linda, can you get your dad to check out our medicine when we get back?

The "free" foot massage cost $60 or so, but the foot massage was great after so much walking.

The last full day we were on our own again. We had a nice breakfast at the nearby Prime Hotel (much better though more expensive than that at our hotel). We got a cab who would take us out to the Summer Palace Grounds still in the city but in the suburbs. A one hour cab ride each way and the driver waited over 3 hours to have our tour for the return trip= 300 yuan ($42). Nice grounds but whereas I had thought that there were over 3 billion people in China and I had only seen half of them, I now feel that I've seen 3/4. The place was crowded on a Saturday on a holiday weekend. Lots of walking there too!

Beijing to Shanghai on the 3rd. Left the hotel at 11:00 am for a 1:50 flight which was delayed again. Arrived Shanghai hotel close to 6:00. Tired. Details to follow.
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