Shanghai: A Final Day of Fun

11.21.09

After an unexpected morning with friends, we dropped by a grocery store that carried an incredible amount of imported goods. We were only in search of baking powder, but managed to walk away with two treats: chipotle flavored Tabasco and a small jar of Nutella. It’s always fun to find familiar items, but the price can be shocking.

Large Nutella: 59rmb ($8.64)
Adams Peanut Butter: 52rmb ($7.62)
German cake mixes: 54 rmb ($7.91) -Ever since I lived in Austria, I’ve always wanted to try one of these mixes. At this price, I’ll pass.
Annie’s Organic Mac & Cheese: 32rmb ($4.68) per box

For lunch, we planned on trying out a German restaurant that had received some rave reviews. It took a great deal of energy to find as it was downtown on a small alley behind another business. When we finally found it, the restaurant was closed – on a Saturday at lunch! Humph.

At that point, we were all tired and hungry so we settled for a nearby mall. I’m not a big fan of malls – especially on Saturday’s, but this ended up being a fun option because they had a Toys R Us and Best Buy.

Hubs and Schäfer spent some time at the Lego display.

Schäfer loved this drum set. Our neighbor’s would not.

Hubs favorite find was this archeology “feudal officer tomb figure”.

Apparently, you can dig into a plaster block until you discover a Terra Cotta Warrior.

That evening, we passed some time at Starbucks while waiting for our 10pm train.  This was Schäfer’s first time to have his own “short hot chocolate”. Hubs ordered a cherry hot chocolate and it tasted just like a chocolate covered cherry. Yum.

And since we could, we made one stop to Cold Stone where we, once again, ordered off the menu. I had the Mint Mint Chocolate Chip while Hubs had the Berry Berry Good. They did have cake batter ice cream which I really like, but I was in the mood for something holiday-ish.

We were in the states last year for Christmas and I specifically remember sampling one of  Coldstone’s delicious holiday flavors: Dark Peppermint. It’s an intense combination of dark chocolate and mint. Yum.  Unfortunately, those blends were not available in Shanghai.

So, Mint Mint Chocolate Chip had to do the trick. It was Coldstone. It was good.

That evening, we departed from the Shanghai South Train Station which opened a year ago. It felt more like an airport than a train station. We were really impressed.

So long Hai Bao!

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