Our next destination was the Bund, which extends from Jinling Road in the south to the Waibaidu Bridge in the north, is 1.5 kilometers in length along the Huangpu River. There are 52 buildings in different styles to its west, such as the Gothic style, the Baroque style, the Roman style, the classical style and the Renaissance style. No wonder why it is honored as a "World Architectural Fair". Astonishingly, all the buildings, harmonious in color and overall size, make up a distinctive art deco, avoiding anything of clutter. Among them, the Shanghai Building, the Bank of China, Peace Hotel, East Wind Hotel are particularly famous. A retaining wall for flood control, 771-metre long, with a spacious walkway for sightseeing atop, is a good place for a leisurely stroll and a view of the Huangpu River. Paved with colorful tiles, dotted with flower-beds and European-style garden lights, it is Shanghai people’s favorite place for talking love. Roaming it, we intoxicated at the elegance and romance of the Bund.
Leaving the Bund with reluctance, we proceeded to the Nanjing Road, famous as "the First Commercial Street in China", stretching from the Bund to Yanan Xilu. It is said that a man who doesn't reach the Nanjing Road might not be considered as being to Shanghai. We passed the commemorative square at the crossroad on Nanjing Road, featuring an elegant fountain and the statue of Chen Yi, the first mayor of Shanghai in new China. After ten-minute walk, we arrived at the shopping paradise. Nanjing Road, firstly getting its name in 1865, is divided in into East Nanjing Road and West Nanjing Road by Tibet Road. Undergoing significant development during more than one hundred years, it has ranked one of the most prosperous commercial streets in Asia with thousands of shops erecting on both sides. There are big traditional stores with century-long history as well as the modern shopping malls, specialty stores, theatres, and international hotels. For shopping convenience, its eastern end has an all-weather pedestrian arcade. We couldn’t help indulging us in the enjoyment of shopping and returned home fully-loaded! Wonderful!
The delicious Shanghai cuisine is also irresistible to us. After crazy shopping, we reached a renowned restaurant in Shanghai: Mei Long Zhen Restaurant at Nanjing Road to try a lot of Shanghai local specialties, such as Sponge Cake Made by Lard and Fruits, shi zi tou (a kind of meatball), Shanghai dumplings and Cold Noodle with Sauce. Shanghai people have a "sweet tooth", so do I. Therefore I was full with satisfaction, totally forgetting that I was on a diet.
Shanghai, what a fascinating city it is!
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