Ni Hao from Shanghai!

Hello from the Executive Lounge at the Renaissance Shanghai YuYuan!  My mother and I are enjoying wine (me), Decaf (her) and dessert while enjoying the beautiful lights of Shanghai across the Huang-Pu (sp?) River!  All the other Cohns are fast asleep in their hotel rooms.  I can already tell that another trip to Shanghai will be in our future - much to see here and not enough time to even scratch the surface with just one day of touring!  Our guide, Kelly, is lovely - young, spunky and with suberb English skills.  I think tomorrow will be fun.  And temps in the low 50's!!!  We are WAY overdressed!

 

I am posting via email as Blogger, Facebook and all my Yahoo Groups seem to be blocked so far (as opposed to 2008 when I had NO issues accessing sites).  The long flight (about 15 hours) from Chicago to Shanghai went very well. We were on United in Economy Plus, which was quite comfortable.   After seeing the business class, I was glad we did not spend all of our United points plus $500/person to upgrade!  It was not THAT much better than Economy+.  The flight was not full and we were able to commandeer a middle row of 5 seats and alternate laying down to take naps. :o)  And, I managed not to spill any drinks this time!  Eliana slept quite a bit, and the ColorWonder and Bendaroos were very successful distractions, as well as the DVD player with a 13 hour battery.  For those flying United on a 777 to China, you do have individual TVs, but there are 9 channels that play a different movie on each, looping continuously.  So, she could watch Nemo or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs over and over again if she wanted to.  (Cathay Pacific had individual movies on demand at each seat when we flew them in 2008).

 

Just wrapped up a nice conversaiton with a lovely Aussie sitting at the next work station - he distracted me!  Okay, that's all for now.  I will hopefully figure out my new fancy schmancy dSLR camera and be able to take and upload pics starting tomorrow! 

 

Please keep Mei Mei in your thoughts.  She must be so scared knowing that she is spending the last few nights with her foster family in the only home  and with the only family she remembers.  We are hoping for the best for her transition to our family, but we are certainly going into this with our eyes wide open to all the possibile scenarios!  We are also a bit nervous about communication, but know that we will find a way to express ourselves to each other, with or without an interpreter!

 

Sorry if this post is rambling.  Should try to get some sleep - must be ready to meet Kelly in the lobby at 9am for a big day of touring Shanghai!

 

Zai jian,

Laura Beth & family