Last Full Day in Shanghai

Today is our last full day in Shanghai.  I woke up at 5:30 and got busy bugging people back home.  When Troy woke up, we discovered that the weather forecasts had been accurate.  It was rainy and cool.  Since we are here early, in all reality, to adjust to the time difference, get over jet lag, and rest up before we get Carter, we determined it was acceptabe to relax in the hotel for awhile vs. blitzing the city.  Troy watched some Big Bang Theory while I luxuriated in the ridiculously deep tub filled with wonderfully, scaldingly hot water while I watched Friends.  Troy eventually went out and grabbed a little McDonalds for breakfast for convenience sake.  Our egg McMuffins (served with ketchup and mayo that were NOT requested) also came with an interesting warm soy milk that tasted curiously of baby cereal..... Ah well.  When in Rome.

Around 10:00 we decided to hail a cab and go to Tian Zi Fang / Taikang Rd.  It is touristy and overdone -- and we loved it! We spent a couple hours navigating the maze of small "streets" and popping in and out of various shops.  It was particularly nice to see a few words in English and hear a bit of it spoken.  

We even saw several other Americans.  We didn't buy much (says the woman who is inordinately proud that we have spent under $65 as we finish our 2nd full day) as it was a lot of either boutique-y type stuff or tourist-y type trash (Troy did buy a few magnets and a bottle opener...sigh), but it was fun to peruse.  

We then came back to the hotel to rest up and figure out where to eat lunch.  It was getting late, but we decided to talk to a couple of people back home we hadn't had a chance to as of yet: Jeff and Ann! We were going to head to Food Street again but got waylaid at a shopping center connected to our hotel.  We wandered around a bit and got suckered into a hot pot restaurant.  I'm not going to lie.  It was my idea, and after being seated, it seemed like an aggregious mistake.  We. Were. CLUELESS! However, with the help of a seriously sweet server and a translator app (they had about 3 words of English between the 5 of them there: thank you, you're welcome, and good -- and why would they have even that, really?), we got a delicious meal and even had a bit of fun along the way. It didn't hurt that they played American 50s and 60s music! 

Yep, those are plastic gloves Troy's wearing.  It was serious business eating at this place.  It was a little stressful to begin with, for real, but once again, stepping outside our comfort zone proved beneficial in the extreme.  Another lesson to be learned, I guess.  :) Ok, off to decide what, if anything, to do with our last evening in Shanghai.