We've Been Shanghai'd

Our two days in Shanghai were full days.

Shanghai Museum

The Shanghai Museum is a modern building with 4 floors of exhibit halls each consisting of several interlinking rooms and each dedicated to some aspect of Shanghai.  One hall had rooms and rooms of glass cases filled with coins and later, paper money.  Every denomination ever minted was displayed.  The rooms for jade, porcelain, statues, pottery, officials, etc. was just as extensively displayed.  The section on ethnic clothing covered every clan for the last several thousand years.  The main theme of all these rooms seemed to be to show that China covered a lot of territory and has for thousands of years.  Hong Kong and Tibet, among others are not separate places, just more parts of the great country of China.  If I had the concession to provide the glass for all those exhibit cases, I would be rich.

This was called "A thousand Buddhas".
I did not count them.

Shanghai Museum lobby

Everywhere you look there are tall buildings.  Some are offices, but many are government owned housing.  The cost of living is high so most people have to work more than 1 job to be able to afford even the basic government subsidized unit.  One of the most famous places in Shanghai is the Bund, the embankment area where ships used to dock and where the business of trading was conducted.  A tall (of course) monuments is dedicated to those who died in World War II.  Many buildings, including the Custom House and the (Fairmont) Peace Hotel across the street from this open public walkway were built in the 1900's.  The land across the river was once rice fields and shacks.  Now it is the business center with the landmark Television Tower and all the tallest buildings.  Most of these buildings light up at night with changing colored lights in patterns or in ever changing pictures.  When we were here several years ago we watched all this from the Bund and from our hotel which was facing the financial district.  Another part of the show is the steady stream of lighted tour and dinner boats on the river.

Architect who design modern buildings in Shanghai do not believe in straight lines and square buildings.

The Sun Chateau where the Viking Sun Naming Ceremony was held

Although the Viking Sun was launched several months ago, the official naming ceremony was held in Shanghai, probably because the "Godmother" of the ship is a Chinese banker and she arrange major financing for the ship.  We were given the hype about a fantastic ceremony and banquet held on shore.  Sunday best was the dress code.  The actual ceremony was held on shore right beside the ship with a live audience of high ranking officials, light, music, audio visual effects and speeches in Chinese, English and Norwegian.  The big moment began with a "Viking" bringing a large ax onto the stage and handing it to the godmother.  She chopped a ribbon which loosed a bottle of akavit (strong Norwegian booze) to swing against the ship and break. 

Note the "Viking" in the background

What actually happened was that we were bused for 10 minutes to a huge banquet facility, fed mediocre food, watched the show on a medium size TV screen and heard the speeches in all 3 languages at the same time.  Not everyone fit in the main room, so people in the 2 smaller rooms were fed a plated meal instead of the buffet.  After a while when it was clear that everyone had given up on the ceremony, we were told that the buses were ready.  When we got to the door, there were no buses.  The crowd grew and got a bit pushy.  People pushed and shoved onto the first bus with some people standing.  They had to get off because the driver refused to go with people standing.  Fortunately we were on the first bus.  I guess the crowd for buses got bigger and a bit more unruly, so the officials let the people walk back to the ship in 40 degree weather.