while Papa and Alison were in charge of the sauce.
M&P and I then headed to the fanciest train station I've seen in China
to take our overnight sleeper train to Shanghai!
After checking into the Astor House Hotel, a landmark building in China, we went to the famed Shanghai Museum, which houses one of best regarded collections of Chinese antiques. We saw a lot of beautiful scrolls, calligraphy, and pottery:
(Random Poll--do you think this pottery is beautiful and unique or looks like something you could get at World Market? Alison and I can't decide if we want to get something.) M&P and I were also interested to see that they had jade carvings from 100s (1000s?) of years ago that looked remarkably like Incan stone carvings:
By that time we were starving and left the museum to find lunch. We ate a local place that struggled with English translations
and then went back to the museum to finish looking at the exhibits.The rest of the day was spent sightseeing around a city that alternatively reminded me of Buenos Aires,
Chicago,
and even Cleveland, by the Clinic.
Nothing looked like China to me, and it was total culture shock. To make our day even more surreal, we went to a restaurant recommended by the concierge that looked like it belonged in Las Vegas, as evidence by the fake-gold-gilded lobby,
and the shark you can eat in the restaurant fishtanks.
The food was delicious, but our favorite part was the UNLIMITED ice cream.
It wasn't until the sun set fully and the neon lights started flashing on the Bund that I truly felt I was in Shanghai. 
PS Alison joined us an hour after I took this picture...so we get to use her spectacular photography for the next few posts. Can't wait to see :)
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