| Day 6 - 2/9/2012 |
Every day Vivian bonds more and more with us. She slept
soundly through the night and woke up around 7 am in a great
mood. After breakfast we came back to the room and she came
in without so much as a whimper. Before lunch we did a more
thorough walk through of the mall across the way. We had pretty
much only been down to the lower level where the grocery store
is. And lo and behold, what was this? Here was the elusive
Starbucks! You mean we've been here almost a week, we're
leaving tomorrow, and now we find it? Ah well, better late than
never. And let me tell you, Starbucks has never tasted so good.
We didn't stay very long at the mall since we wanted to get Vivian
back to the room for lunch and a nap. Otherwise, we would have
a meltdown later in the day. After lunch, a warm bottle and a little
rocking she fell asleep for 3 hours! Let me tell you how good that
felt as getting her to sleep has not been easy. We're SO grateful
that she went down so easily. I think we're beginning to
understand her rhythm a little better.
After Vivian's nap Jane walked us over to Fuzi Temple, or
Confucious' Temple. The original structure had fallen into
disrepair so 50 years ago they completed a refurbishment of the
structure. It was a nice short tour full of history and interesting
factoids. I hadn't realized, but all of the colorful decorations that
we have been seeing around town are considered lanterns
because they all light up at night. They're made of material and
are all different shapes, from your regular lantern shape to more
elaborate turtles, dragons or human figures. Pretty cool! There
was a whole wall dedicated to little prayer cards that parents
had filled out with wishes for their children to do well on their
upcoming tests. During the lantern festival it is a very common
practice for families to visit Confucious' temple for this purpose.
Once we left the temple Jane took us to a couple more places
including one of the historical places where thousands of
students would come to take their exams. Thousands of years
ago when a person wanted to become a government official
there were something like 5 different levels of tests you had to
pass in order to become an official. Nanjing was where
everyone came for the second level or provincial test. As we
were finishing up the tour and walking through the hawker
aisles I noticed something falling through the air. I thought it was
ash or something, but it was snow! It wasn't heavy or thick
soundly through the night and woke up around 7 am in a great
mood. After breakfast we came back to the room and she came
in without so much as a whimper. Before lunch we did a more
thorough walk through of the mall across the way. We had pretty
much only been down to the lower level where the grocery store
is. And lo and behold, what was this? Here was the elusive
Starbucks! You mean we've been here almost a week, we're
leaving tomorrow, and now we find it? Ah well, better late than
never. And let me tell you, Starbucks has never tasted so good.
We didn't stay very long at the mall since we wanted to get Vivian
back to the room for lunch and a nap. Otherwise, we would have
a meltdown later in the day. After lunch, a warm bottle and a little
rocking she fell asleep for 3 hours! Let me tell you how good that
felt as getting her to sleep has not been easy. We're SO grateful
that she went down so easily. I think we're beginning to
understand her rhythm a little better.
After Vivian's nap Jane walked us over to Fuzi Temple, or
Confucious' Temple. The original structure had fallen into
disrepair so 50 years ago they completed a refurbishment of the
structure. It was a nice short tour full of history and interesting
factoids. I hadn't realized, but all of the colorful decorations that
we have been seeing around town are considered lanterns
because they all light up at night. They're made of material and
are all different shapes, from your regular lantern shape to more
elaborate turtles, dragons or human figures. Pretty cool! There
was a whole wall dedicated to little prayer cards that parents
had filled out with wishes for their children to do well on their
upcoming tests. During the lantern festival it is a very common
practice for families to visit Confucious' temple for this purpose.
Once we left the temple Jane took us to a couple more places
including one of the historical places where thousands of
students would come to take their exams. Thousands of years
ago when a person wanted to become a government official
there were something like 5 different levels of tests you had to
pass in order to become an official. Nanjing was where
everyone came for the second level or provincial test. As we
were finishing up the tour and walking through the hawker
aisles I noticed something falling through the air. I thought it was
ash or something, but it was snow! It wasn't heavy or thick
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enough makes us worry, but it was fun walking through the gently falling snow. Tyler was so happy
he got to see falling snow.
food we've had on our entire trip. Even Vivian devoured her food. What a great way to end our last
night here in Nanjing.
he got to see falling snow.
food we've had on our entire trip. Even Vivian devoured her food. What a great way to end our last
night here in Nanjing.