Last of The Big Adventure!

Well, it was finally the end of the May holiday and Carol and I were both done in, but happy about all our travels. During her last week here she met me at the bus stop (she made it across the street by herself). We finally caught a 19 bus (after jut missing one and having to wait forever) and went to have a foot massage (which included a lot more that just your feet!) They massaged your shoulders, back, arms, and a very thorough massage of your feet and lower legs. It lasted an hour and felt heavenly. (Eat your hearts out ladies! All for about $6) We didn't want anyone thinking Carol just lounged around while she was here so we took some pictures of our exercise routines. We went to eat at a Japanese restaurant which was pretty neat too. Finally it was Saturday and time to head off to Shanghai for a night on the Bund and shopping on Sunday morning before taking off to the airport for Carol's flight home. We caught the new fast train from Changzhou to Shanghai which only took an hour (about 3 hours before). After getting settled into our hotel we took off for the Bund. We had supper on the seventh floor of number 3 where we could see all the beautiful lights and the river. Then we decided to go along the walk way. It was a very pretty sight to see. Finally it was back to the hotel for some much needed rest. After a lazy morning and hot showers we struck out for Xintiandi (an old part of Shanghai that is being restored with all kinds of shops). We had frappacino at Starbucks and then it was off shopping. About noon we caught a taxi to the airport. By the time we got luggage checked in and found the right gate it was time for Carol to head on alone. I sure hated to see her go, but knew that she would have the worst of the trip over first (about 17 hours in one hitch). Of course we both shed a few tears, but were happy we had been able to have her visit. After catching the number 5 bus back into town I did a little more shopping since my train didn't leave until almost 7:00 pm. I was back at the apartment by 8:30 and knew that Carol was well on her way back to the good ole USA. It had been quite an exciting 3 weeks...andI think Carol was bitten by the travel bug. :)

G'Night everybody!

More Pics from our Travels

For those of you who are following all of our travels, here are some more pictures from Beijing - these are at Tiannamen Square and the Forbidden City. We also saw the swimming arena and the bird's nest building for the 2008 Olympics.

I know that some of you gals and guys at OSU think I don't really do anything over here except run around and see the sights. :)

But I do teach English and Geography to Korean and Thai students every day - which means lesson plans, grading papers, giving tests, etc.

Sometimes things get a little hectic, but I will try to post to the blog more often. :)
Now back to the trip - We were able to watch the guards practicing for their changing ceremony. Carol is standing at the entrance of the beautiful tulip gardens at the Forbidden City. These are some of the peach or plum trees also.

We could have spent several more hours there if we hadn't been so tired. :)

Everybody wants to have their picture made with the Americans. These girls asked if their brother could take our picture with them.

Here are some more pics at the Great Wall too. The artist is etching scenes onto tiles. All the umbrellas are little market stalls all along the way down and you can see stone steps in the background where people are walking down from the wall. The other is along the top of the wall.

Okay, enough for tonight. More to come next time. G'Night!!