world class museums-two in one morning!

there will be a lot of photos from this day of exploring in Shanghai so it will be in multiple posts-

we started with a stupendous breakfast at the Waldorf on the Bund - and then met Christine who had suggested we start at the Urban Planning Museum to get an idea of the layout of the city and its historical development. and- WOW! she was right- it gives visitors a complete overview of Shanghai... we started at the city model which is constantly kept current by having new buildings added and old ones taken out when they are no longer there--- amazing sight! We shared it with a group of adorable school children-

each with their very own backpack- LOL

the Bund - up close -our building is on the right hand side of the photo- the place we had dinner last night was on the top floor where the gabled windows are shown-

to orient you- the Bund is where the river bends back to the left near the top of the photo- where the yellow tree line the banks- then coming forward and a bit to the left of there is Pudong where the highest skyscrapers are located- 

the model runs through a whole day/night light cycle - which only makes it more impressive

an outlying area-

the whole thing to give some perspective on the size!

the route we took to the hotel last night crossed this bridge and went along the double circular exit ramp-

the museum also has a wonderful history of urban planning - which covers an amazing array of city planners from "ancient" time to present- and also some great historical photos of development stages..

our hotel is just left of dead center near the top of the photo- you will recognize the roof line-

our hotel was once the Shanghai Club-

they had a great video that followed along the with the development of the city-

early city planners at work- LOL

the Bund in its earliest days-

we thoroughly enjoyed our stop here- but time presses and so off we went to the Shanghai Museum- where more wonders awaited us-

amazing fabric and costume collection-

various tribal relics-

incredible jade carvings-

classic Chinese paintings and ink drawings

then a whole gallery of ancient stone carvings-

and some old old old pottery-

the most popular exhibition was the one from the Clark Museum (from Massachusetts) of Impressionists Paintings -but no photos in there so we will have to end with a few more of the regular exhibits-

more later- of course- we are off to the old concessions and our soup dumpling lunch--- so stay tuned!