3 days in Shanghai

Monday morning up with the larks. Starting our journey home. 2 slow trains to Malpensa airport in Milan. And if you don't keep watch you'd never even know you'd crossed from Switzerland to Italy.

As I've been to Malpensa airport a few times now it is comfortably easy to negotiate. In fact it seems quiet and a bit old fashioned, but I think this is just an illusion as they have loads of gates and you have to allow yourself enough time to get to yours - which is generally about as far away as the next county!

Anyway the Air China flight to Shanghai was fine. We left at 12.30 and they gave us lunch and then closed all the window shades and turned off the lights so we could sleep. But that wasn't so easy when it was only the middle of the afternoon. We napped and watched movies as you do, but arriving in Shanghai at mid nite our time with not much sleep - and it being 6am their time. Well, what can I say - must try harder next time (to sleep lol). Consequently it is 3.30am while I'm writing this as we went to bed very very early yesterday.

Shanghai has 23 million people and I'm sure a goodly amount of them were on the metro with us as we navigated our way to our hotel. The tourist office wasn't open when we flew in, and although lots of young people in uniforms tried to be very helpful, mostly they just wanted to sell us SIM cards. I couldn't figure it out until I realised our cellphones won't connect here. And if you don't have a working number you also can't connect to any of the free wifi places. I must admit that I didn't do much homework on Shanghai before we left as I have friends who live here. Unfortunately they're away at the moment but did steer us towards a hotel and places to visit and eat. But I wasn't really prepared for the fact that this is China, and has a different operating system to the world I am used to. So I'm writing this blog, but I won't be able to post it until I get home because you can't access Google in China - no Gmail, no Facebook, no Blogspot, no Chrome - well golly, it's amazing how caught up we get with technology and social media. We have wifi at the hotel, but have to do all our searches through Yahoo, and it's pretty slow. And many sites just don't open at all. 

Back to the metro - we worked out our route with only one change. Got our tickets from the machine no problem, then boarded an empty train at the airport. Great, seating, spacious, modern train. And then at the next station people rushed in and got the rests of the seats and filled the aisles - the compartment looked full. Ha, no way. Over the next few stops more people pushed their way in until I couldn't see the subway map on the other wall, and wondered how on earth we would be able to squeeze past everyone to get off. And lordy, you could have a panic attack in here! Well the getting off worked ok because we reached a terminus and had to change trains. Everyone rushed off across the platform to line up at each door opening place - all nice and orderly and queuing on either side of each opening so that those getting off can go through the middle. And you have to be quick coz when the time is up the doors just close - and of course we had all our bags - and no cellphones if we got separated.

The next train we were standing and when the train stopped at a station there would be a surge of people seemingly throwing themselves into the car. It was a physical wave of energy and everyone would sway and readjust to a smaller space. You certainly didn't need to hold on, as we were sardines packed into a can. I suppose it was rush hour. And just like home everyone was on their phones. We saw one woman writing Chinese characters directly onto her Samsung screen which then did predictive text. No worries about me reading over her shoulder haha.

We made it through our 3 metro rides and only got out one station too far for the hotel. A chance to wander along the busy street, and stop for a much needed coffee. At this stage it was still only 8.30am and we'd been up for over 24 hours. It's warm here and rainy. Nice to have the warmth again after feeling the autumn creeping in in Switzerland. Will be home soon enough for the lovely spring weather NZ has been experiencing!

All we managed for the rest of the day was a wander around the neighbourhood to an old area where the alleyways between the houses have been turned into shops. A funny thing is that you see the locals walking around with take out, or they are eating on the street, but restaurants seem few and far between. Either they are camouflaged, or upstairs. And unless you go into a western type place (Starbucks is EVERYWHERE!) you more or less have to point to stuff - which is all well and good, except I always think that what the locals are eating looks better than what I end up with. 

Today we slept late and missed breakfast - it might have had something to do with being awake in the middle of the night!  We did the Big Bus Tour. First to Pudong - the new financial district that was a swamp 20 years ago, and is now a piece of prime real estate covered in skyscrapers. We went up one of them and had views over the river to the 'old' part of Shanghai. Although much of what was old has now been demolished to create new and modern - just what many countries have done, including NZ. The views were marginal due to either pollution or low cloud - it's the end of the rainy season and it's been cloudy and showery.

We went on the Bund sightseeing tunnel under the river - very amusing - like an underground cable car with flashing neon lights!

Then a visit to the Yu gardens and surrounding bazaar area - nice, but touristy. And after a very mediocre lunch we scored a nice dinner at a place close to the hotel. We've been feeling the jet lag traveling this way - note to self - stopover more important on way home from Europe.

Thursday 

Ha, made it to breakfast but really shouldn't have bothered. Lots of stewed stuff, that fake sausage, congee, and at least hard boiled eggs with sweet bread toast and margarine. And luke warm coffee. 

Did another route on the bus tour, and tried to get as many photos of bike loads as we could. Took a ferry trip across the river and back, and stopped off for a late lunch at a western style restaurant. I'm sure there's yummy things to eat at local restaurants here - and next time I'll bring an interpreter. Apparently the Shanghaiese favour sweet and sour foods, and there is usually vinegar on the table rather than soy sauce.

So we ended up having a quiet and reasonably slow time in Shanghai - which is the only way to walk when there's so many people around.

Then a nice Air NZ flight that was packed to the gunnels with people rustling, talking, moving about, snorting and sneezing, and children screeching - just your average long haul in economy. And here we are home again, home again jiggedty jig.

So long and thanks for reading...

Swiss cheese

Imagine if you will freshly boiled new potatoes straight from the garden, and then a double grill sitting in the middle of the table. Small individual pans for toasting little slabs of special cheese to pour over your potatoes, and tasty morsels to fry on the top of the grill. Meatballs, crispy bacon, pork fillets, and cherry tomatoes. And side dishes of pickles, spices, and salad. That my friends is Swiss Raclette - actually traditionally it's the melted cheese without the meat, but they've introduced the 'party grill' to the dish - delicious, and even better with good friends. Shame we were too busy digging in to take any photos!

Yesterday we explored Bellinzona, a 3 castle town in the foothills of the Swiss Alps. There was even a du stings of snow on some of the peaks in the morning, but it disappeared during the beautifully warm day. The town was having an annual fiesta and there was about 2kms of stalls, pop-up restaurants (selling sausage and beer of course), and bands - brass bands full of young people doing traditional Swiss music, and more contemporary stuff. Unfortunately no yodelling or lederhosen, but a grand day none the less. Lots of families out and about enjoying the stunning autumn day.

We walked up to one of the castles and scaled the ramparts to view the other 2, and the town. The castle was n good repair and it was easy to see where the boiling oil would be tipped down onto the marauding hordes. 

We went the back way to the castle up old stone steps, then in the Castle we climbed up the tower where they house the museum. Montebello castle was built by a prominent family between the 13th to the 15th centuries. It's hard to imagine living in an era where you needed a castle (complete with moat and drawbridge) to survive. 

After we'd 'done' the town, market, and castle, and of course stopped for a beer on the way back to listen to one of the bands, we headed for home on the train. My friends were working and I'd offered to cook the roast lamb for our last nights dinner. Well catching the train provided no problems (except for trying to work the ticket machine in Italian), and then when we arrived in Tenero to catch the bus up the hill it seemed there was no bus for at least 90 mins. It was Sunday, and just like NZ used to be, all the shops are closed and services run on a limited timetable. So more steps to walk up the mountain. Which would have been fine, except we walked up the wrong side of the ravine - we could see the house just the other side of the 40 metre steep sided ravine. So back down again, and more steps up - and it was a warm day! You would think with all this walking we would be thin as, but alas the food is too appealing! And the roast lamb (local, not NZ - which we found everywhere) was divine. 

Switzerland

Yesterday we went for a trip up the valley. First to the dam featured in the James Bond movie Golden Eye, where he bungy jumps off the top of the dam. Due to all the rain the dam was overflowing through the control gates, and we could hear it from the house thundering through the ravine.  And luckily the bungy jumping was closed too so unfortunately we couldn't do it.

The road up the valley is about 16kms long and is apparently the best placed valley for preserving the heritage of the area. There's little villages perched on the side of the hills, or clustered on either side of the narrow winding road. Houses made hundreds of years ago out of granite, and the river has deep blue pools around huge boulders. The water is always cold as it comes down from the mountains, but great for swimming on a hot day. The area is best known for hiking, and there's trails all around, and dappled European type forests of oak and beech, and plane trees.

We also went for a walk around the lake and gathered fresh walnuts, and it's porcini mushroom season in the forests. We went out for dinner to a restaurant overlooking the lake and had fresh procuitto, caprese salad with local mozzarella, porcini mushrooms on steak, and delicious gnocchi. Just in case you thought we weren't eating!

The view at night from the house.

It's nice and sunny today and we've been walking through a nature reserve for bird watchers. The Swiss stare at my shorts and sandals as it's autumn now and I should be wearing shoes! We thought we would have been here to help with the grape picking, but they were ready for the winery the week before we arrived so we're having a very relaxing time. 

From one currency to another

Last night in Prague we went on the Jazz boat - a 2&1/2 hr boat trip up and down the river and under all the beautiful bridges and through locks. The castle and spires were all lit up, and there was a live jazz band playing. Plus a 3 course pork dinner! More pork, more pork - lol.

It was touristy, but also most enjoyable. But of course we didn't do and see everything, so I think I'll have to come back to Prague - and besides, I didn't try all the different foods, and didn't even try any of the amazing looking cakes!

We had an easy journey from the Czech Republic to Switzerland by metro, plane, and train. It's just long days when you change countries. Because we went from one EU country to another you don't even need to go through immigration and customs. You can see how it must be hard to keep track of movements of people around Europe.

It's rainy here in the Italian part of Switzerland, and this is a beautiful area for hiking and such like. So we've just been taking it easy, admiring the view from the deck overlooking Lake Maggiore.

We went and visited one of the beautiful villages on the lake front - most of the tourists have gone now, and the boats are all covered up for winter.

expensive pizza for lunch overlooking the lake.

Wearing the warmer clothes now, but the Swiss stare at my sandals!

Yesterday we had quite an adventure - we went to IKEA (or ickea as they say here). I've never been to one before and I loved it. Could have bought heaps, but can't fit anything in my suitcase! We were laughing a lot and exclaiming over everything. One of the staff thought we were crazy until Lisa explained that we'd never been to an IKEA before! The language here is Italian, but lots of German spoken as well, and many people speak English. Most people have multiple languages and my friends here all switch languages easily. I can follow some conversations a little bit.

This is me pretending to eat the fake noodles at IKEA.

With my friend Lisa.

Prague apartment

We have the most amazing airbnb apartment in the heart of Prague. It is this really old house that has been added onto, and then broken up into apartments in the Communist area, and there is a cafe in the courtyard garden that we walk through to get upstairs.

The front of the house is unremarkable

Then you walk under the 1st part of the house and through a covered walkway, out through some old doors to the garden, and up the old stairs to our apartment.

To our deck overlooking the garden

The place is a little shabby and needing some TLC, but oh the dimensions!

The foyer

And the height of the doors is about the height of our ceilings at home.

My bedroom - 3 large double windows, and check out the old chaise lounge - some of the furniture is modern (the beds luckily), and some is ancient. And some of the place has been modernised - the shower is a wonder to look at - unfortunately the rose falls from its holder, and the water goes everywhere.

The kitchen/dining/sitting room is huge, and dominated by a big dark painting of one of the former owners - this place even has it's own website, and is a Czech cultural listed building.

Very 'Kafka-esk'. I reckon the ceilings are 4m high. And even though it's right in the middle of Prague, it is soooo quiet. All you can hear is the old fashioned clock ticking.

Prague, city of a hundred spires

Up before the crack of dawn to enjoy the famous 14th century Charles Bridge before the majority of tourists descend. 

With the castle in the background.

Some of the buildings, including the old clock tower that has the apostles pop out for a look every hour - we keep missing them!

Looks like the old Farmers building lol

And how would you like to have these life sized figures outside your balcony?

Couldn't fit the whole clock tower into the photo.

Some of the hundred spires.

Then a tourist train ride around the city that became even more interesting when we were delayed and diverted due to "tram hit car". Not much to see except the emergency vehicles, and I don't' think anyone was injured - big traffic jam in curly wurly narrow streets though.

And gosh it must be lunch time - couldn't find the goulash shop I'd earmarked, so had to settle for sausage and beer.