Shanghai Night Sky

Today was a clear afternoon - blue sky is very rare in Shanghai, so we decided to take advantage of it after dinner.  We went downtown to the Bund and took a bunch of pictures trying to capture the incredible night skyline.  It's hard to describe how beautiful it is. One side of the river is the Pudong side (the new side) where most of  the new skyscrapers are being built.  John works in the HSBC building which you might be able to see here:

In this shot below you can see the Oriental Pearl Tower - one of the most famous landmarks in the city and on postcards everywhere.  A few days ago me and the kids went up to the  bigger bubble that you see below the point.  It has a glass floor you can walk out on...not surprisingly, I did not go out there.  But Madeline and Jeb did just to torture me.

On the side of western side of the river is the original city of Shanghai - called Puxi.  Both sides are lit up beautifully at night, and there is a long pavilion that runs along the river called The Bund. Along the Bund are beautiful old 19th century buildings that were built by the French, British and Americans during the heydey here in the early part of the century. In the picture above we are standing along the Bund looking towards Pudong.  Here is a shot showing the Puxi side lit up:

And here is a funny scenario that keeps repeating itself wherever we go...parents are constantly asking if their kids can pose with Madeline, Jeb and Hope for photos.  It is funny and everyone gets a kick out of the way they look.  Here's a little girl posing for her dad, and then John captured the scene as well.

As I'm writing this post, it's about 9:30 pm here and the kids are on skype with Tommy, Lily, Cameron, Austin, Margaret and Phoebe at Grandad's house...as well as the ever faithful video chatter Kari reporting live....9:30 in the morning there and and we are hearing about the huge waves caused by Irene....miss you all very much!