Arrival in Shanghai

When we arrived at the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai about 4:45 pm, Viking assigned us an opulent room. We saw a documentary recently showing old film footage of the Chinese Revolution of 1911 in which this hotel was depicted as the place where the Western diplomats and businessmen stayed, played and strayed. The hotel is still here, and we’re in it. It is on the Bund, the string of European hotels, embassies and finance houses that reduced China to slavery in the late 19th century. The decor is 1920’s Art-Deco excess—over the top elegance. I expect F. Scott Fitzgerald to walk around the corner at any moment. Arriving in Shanghai this afternoon, we encountered a parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution of 1949. Hundreds of people joined soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army in the streets. When we went out to photograph it, a policeman told us we must move with the crowd, so even though I had told Glenda I would meet her at our hotel, we were not allowed to stay in place. Kathy, Gil and I joined the river of humanity parading through the streets of Shanghai. We thought we would just go around the block and return to our hotel. No such luck. At the next intersection, the one after that, and the one after that there was a cadre of young cadets all blowing whistles and telling us we could not make a left turn. When we were finally able to turn left, we were six blocks away from our hotel, so our whole walk took us about fourteen blocks. It was amazing! We got to see a million new friends on our first night in this beautiful city. What a wonderful way to get our first walking tour of old Shanghai.En savoir plus