Shanghai

Today we spent the morning in Shanghai's art museum looking at many of China's traditional relics. The space was beautiful and the galleries were all very impressive. After we walked a short distance to an underground mall that had all sorts of crazy fashion stores and random junk, then we headed over to a contemporary gallery that was hosting the Shanghai Biennale. Overall the Biennale was rather lacking and I was unenthusiastic about it. The work seemed boring and the few pieces that were politically charged were focused on Palestine and Morocco, and I was distressed to think that the entire Tibet issue which is more prevalent to the Chinese just seemed to be ignored by the public all-together. After the gallery we had free time to explore the city and a few of us headed to an art district that was reminiscent of the little streets of Italy. We had some new york style pizza (the first cheese I have eaten all trip) and ventured about the alleys. 

Tomorrow we visit the gardens and have more free time to do whatever, which is really great since our schedule has been so busy up until this point. The hotel has a really nice pool and gym so I am off.