Going to Shanghai

China has a huge national holiday on October 1st. In 1949, this was the day Chairman Mao stood on the deck of the Forbidden City and gave a speech to the crowd gathered below, declaring the official beginning of the People's Republic of China. So it's sort of their 4th of July, except I'm not sure many people would confuse it with Independence Day. ;)

In 2011, everyone gets 3 days off of work and travels. Unfortunately, this meant that by the time I got around to planning our trip, 1.3 billion people had beat me to the punch, and there were no more tickets left.

So we went to Shanghai the following weekend. Happy Columbus Day!

We packed pretty light (1 suitcase, 1 backpack, 1 diaper bag, and 1 stroller), which made it possible for us to call it a vacation. We picked up Kevin after work and flew to Shanghai in the evening. It was Naomi's first time on an airplane, and she didn't do so well. Evenings aren't her best time, and she likes being put down when she sleeps. Good thing it was only a 2-hour flight!

Here we are, ready for takeoff!

Penny is so helpful in the airport!

 One of the places we visited Shanghai was the Apple Store. The screen on Kevin's iPad had broken, so we wanted to take it in to have it fixed. We went a day or two after Steve Jobs passed away, and there was a little memorial outside where people had placed flowers, pictures, candles, and apples with a bite taken out of each one. People came by to bow and pay their respects.

 One thing I didn't get a picture of was the bottom of this glass cylindrical entryway. They have some glass pieces criss-crossing the tube so that the refracted light on the floor looks like an apple. It was obviously designed by someone waaaayyy smarter than I.
We sat in the waiting room for a while before the iDoctors could have a look at the sick iPod.

Naomi and Dad

Penny was just glad the iPad still worked, even with its broken screen.

They had computers out for people to test and use, and this one had kids' apps.
Penny was pretty unhappy when we had to leave.

 The Apple Store, as it turns out, is right by Shanghai's iconic Pearl Tower. This overpass is a great place to view the tower and take a picture. The gardener came to talk to me for a while, and he said that last week, during the National Holiday, there were so many people on the overpass that you couldn't go up, you couldn't go down, and once you were up, you couldn't move at all.
I'm certainly glad we went when we did.

Please act surprised if we send this to you as a Christmas card

Or this one. Hey, at least it has all 4 of us in it!