Biking around Shanghai

Today was a beautiful fall day with temperatures in the low 60s and lots of sunshine.  After a breakfast of Cynthia's homemade french toast she and I decided to take a bike tour and explore beyond the reaches of our normal routines.  The boys were all busy - Regan was at a skateboard park, Landon had a friend over to play Nerf Wars and Mason was tired from having been out with friends the night before.  So it was just my lovely bride and I off to explore PuDong.  We headed out to Thumb Plaza, named for the large stainless steel sculpture of a guy holding his thumbs.  It is kind of an odd sculpture and a bit awkward but it is known by all who live on the PuDong side of the river.  From Thumb Plaza we made our way to Century Park where vendors were busy selling foods, toys, kites and balloons.  Along the way we started to hear very loud noises that sounded like race cars in the Indy 500 and as we came closer we learned that there was a street race being held.  They had barricades up so that you could not see the cars.  Tickets were 280 rmb ($42) each and we decided to pass.  We made our next stop near home at a plant vendor that Cynthia has come to know and ended up buying a large plant that he would deliver to our apartment later in the day.  Our final stop was to Cynthia's fruit market where her and Mrs. Jin go to buy fresh provisions on a regular basis.  Some small kids and a mom were selling these little round fruits called something I can't remember  but are absolutely sweet and delicious.  We bought a bagful and they are already gone.  We finally made it home around 3pm and had a nice rest.

If you are reading this from an e-mail, I would encourage you to head to the blogsite to look at the latest photos from the day.  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and that your favorite football team won!