"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says...."Oh crap! She's up!" Unknown

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

I've Been on an Adventure!

On May 2nd, my older daughter and I 
headed out on an adventure.
A BIG adventure!
My daughter has always wanted to go to China.
She remembers my mother-in-law talking about her 
trip years ago and since then has wanted to go herself.
My daughter has Down syndrome, 
so traveling by herself is not an option.
China has never been top on the list of places
I wanted to visit, but I went for my daughter.
We booked a Viking land and river tour and packed our bags.
We had a wonderful trip and came home with lots of great
memories and photographs.


Our trip started off with a canceled flight,
but we were able to get booked onto another flight later in the day.
 We arrived in Shanghai late,
but hit the ground running the next morning




This shows the old Shanghai with the new.
(And American influence with KFC!)



Yuyuan Gardens are in the heart of the city,
but secluded and just beautiful.




Dragons are a sign of strength and protection.
This was on one of the walls in the gardens
and wrapped around  a section. I couldn't get a good photo
of his long tail along the wall.




This part of Shanghai is very modern,
all being built since 1992.
It's on the Huangpu River and is called the "Bund".
The building to the right with the opening at the top
is called "the beer can opener" by the locals.
It really looks like one, too!



These buildings were behind us as we looked across the river
to the modern buildings.
These were built by the British and are now bank buildings,
for the most part.

 


Marquis Yi's tomb (from 433 B.C.) was excavated in 1978 and these bells were found.
The largest of the bells weighs 500 pounds.
At the Hubei museum, they have a replica set of these bells
and we were able to listen to a concert where these bells were played.
They are struck with a mallet to make them ring and the sound is beautiful.





We were able to visit a silk embroidery studio
and saw some gorgeous pieces of art.
The master stitchers can divide a silk thread into 1/32 strands,
bearly seen by the eye.
There were some unbelievable pieces of animals that were
stitched.  One eye would take 2 months to stitch!





The photos do not do these justice,
but in person they looked like photographs and
not embroidery.



I will continue with our tour in a day or two.

Happy Quilting!


8 comments:

Libby in TN said...

Wow! What a fabulous adventure! I don't think I would have ever left that garden.

Sara said...

A wonderful mother-daughter experience! I was truly amazed by the silk embroidery. Wow!

straythreads said...

what a fun trip and traevling with DD is the best

Julie said...

What a fabulous trip! I look forward to more pictures. I definitely would want to be part of a tour to go there, but what an awesome experience for you and your daughter!

Vicki in MN said...

Thank you for sharing your adventure with us, glorious garden!

kupton52 said...

This post brought tears to my eyes...I am so thankful you two got to share this experience. The memories will be eternal. What a wonderful mother you are.

Kim said...

Such a wonderful experience for you and your daughter to travel through China together and share life changing memories. The embroidered flowers in that amazing jug is unbelievable.

Needled Mom said...

It looks like the perfect time of the year to visit. I’m sure that a lifetime of memories were made for both of you. Glad that the rough start with a cancelled flight did not cause problems for you.