A Full Day of Guangzhou

Dear Vivi -

Today was a very full day.  We're trying to see as much of this part of China as we can before we head home, so this morning we took a cab to Shamian Island, which used to be the hub for all families adopting in China.  It had the White Swan Hotel with the famous red couch that all the adopted babies had their pictures taken on.  The Consulate and the medical offices were there, and it has a lot of shops.  The hotel, however, has been closed for two years, and will be closed for at least one more.  The Consulate and the medical offices have both moved off of the island, but it's still a beautiful place to go and see.

Among other things, they have a beautiful "sculqture" garden.  Or sculpture, whatever.  I have a feeling that someone wrote the "p" in the wrong direction when they were planning out this sign.

The island is full of interesting statues.  What's most interesting about them is that none of them are Chinese.  I'm not sure what that means.

 School children just gather in the local park to do their version of recess as outdoor play space is so limited.

One of the more famous statues in the adoptive family world is called "Lingering Music", and features a woman playing the violin with a line of children behind her.  There is a space between the last two children in the sculpture, and adoptive families have been taking their children there and putting them in the empty space for probably as long as international adoptions have been taking place.  Today was finally your turn!

Because of the school children doing their calisthenics, I couldn't get a good wide picture of you in it, but here you are.

Ah, Starbucks in China.  You taste yummy and you have cool art on your walls.

There is absolutely no horn playing on Shamian Island.  Seeing the sign kind of made me wonder what in the world happened that they felt the need to erect a sign to warn against horns?

Your homeland is full of beautiful landscaping and trees.

 

"It's...smiling at me."  We may be in China for the bulk of the Christmas season and therefore limited on the holiday movies that we're getting to watch, but we had a good laugh over this sign today and thought of "A Christmas Story".

We dined at Lucy's while on the island, a restaurant famous for its American dishes.  It did not disappoint!

We ate with the Cram family.  I asked everyone to smile and pretend like they were having fun eating in China.  Notice that you and Daddy didn't even turn around to look at the camera.

When we got back to the hotel after lunch, we had to wait for the results of yesterday's TB test (blood draw) to make sure you didn't have it.  If you do have TB, you can't leave China.  Needless to say we were really relieved when we go the phone call saying you were all clear!

This afternoon was also group picture time.  First they take a picture of each family, and then they take a picture of the whole group of us together.  Here is the best one of the three of us.

And here we all are - CCAI Travel Group 2044/2044S!!

You did NOT think it was a good idea to put all of the newly adopted children on to a couch to take a picture together.

To close out the day, we took a cruise on the Pearl River.  We opted to take just the cruise and not the dinner cruise, based on our understanding that the "dinner" part of the latter is less than desirable and may or may not include a very scary clown.  Instead we opted to bring Papa John's on board with us and have a pizza party.  (Side note - thank you to Papa John's for having french fries on their menu, which allowed Mommy to have something to eat!)

The sights of the buildings all lit up were really beautiful.

The Canton Tower is the third tallest tower in the world behind the one in Dubai and another in Tokyo.  I had thought that having it all lit like this would be cheesy but it actually is really cool in person. And we know that Liam will love the fact that it's rainbow colors!

A stadium that was built in 2010 when Guangzhou hosted the Asian Olympic Games.  I had no idea such a thing even existed.

The Guangzhou Opera House, modeled to look like Sydney's famous one.

Perhaps the brightest site on the whole boat was this girl, who thinks she is absolutely hysterical - which, of course, you are.  Standing on a chair next to Daddy was the funniest thing that happened to you all day and you let us know it!

Tomorrow we have the Consulate Appointment and a trip to the pearl market. Only two more days and we will be on our way home!!!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy