Day 225: The Pearl Tower/Shanghai Municipal Museum Redux.....and MoCA

Today Randy and I did some more sightseeing, but without Kerry, unfortunately. He still wasn't feeling well enough to go running around.

We managed to get a Didi to The Pearl Tower. We bought tickets to the Tower and the Shanghai Municpal Museum--160 RMB, much more than the guide book said. The ticket agent warned us that the view on the 263 meter platform wouldn't be that good, and she was right. But it was okay, and I got some good pictures as I walked around. Randy and I then went to the 90 meter platform, and, oddly enough, got much better views and much better pictures. It was a nice surprise. Afterwards, we headed to the Shanghai Municipal Museum downstairs. Last time, with Zach, we got to see it for only five minutes. What a difference this time!  We explored all the floors for about an hour. It was an amazing museum telling the history of Shanghai. The dioramas were so incredibly lifelike that I had to stop and stare a few times to make sure that real people were not behind the glass. I also enjoyed the dioramas of the places, such as Nanjing Road or the Bund in the 1930s, or hotel ballrooms. They were often all lit up and gorgeous. It was a journey an cobblestone streets, which reminded me of the Detroit Historical Museum a bit. Well worth the price of admission.

Pearl Tower and Municipal Museum pics:

Pearl Tower, from the outside.

View from the 90M platform.

Lifelike person, Shanghai Municipal Museum.

Another person come to life.

An old Chinese silent film: a woman chooses an orphan.

Randy mugs before a screen.

Afterwards, we discovered it was pouring rain outside. Randy didn't bring an umbrella or raincoat, so he had to share my umbrella. Stupid me: I was just wearing a Tiger shirt and short pants, and it was 60 degrees out. We went to Subway for lunch--just as good as an American Subway, I think. I had tuna, Randy had Italian sausage with peppers. We sat at picnic tables near a bunch of Chinese people just standing around under an awning. There were several men near us, smoking of course. Being around cigarette smoke is inevitable in Shanghai.

We then took the subway to the MoCA. The MoCA was in People's Park, and I had a better memory of how to get there this time. I was surprised at how small it was: just three floors and only two major exhibits. The first floor had a display with phosphorescent light--you could press against the wall and make a lasting shadow. Pretty cool. This floor also had REAL couches, so we collapsed into one of them for a brief rest. It was nice to sit on a good couch again. The second floor had an exhibit from a French artist known only as "Seth." His exhibits tended to be multimedia and involve children: photography, sculpture, painting. Very hard to describe but very worthwhile to see. A major theme of his work, it seemed to me, was the dysfunction of children's lives. He would show a child upside in a bird cage, for example, or another in a kneeling position suddenly crumbling to bricks.The third floor was not as impressive: a series of dresses, only about 15 of them. But they were beautiful to look at.  That was really about it, unless you count the bathroom, which had an outrageous display of lilies that were formed by series of curse words. Ah, modern art.

I'm making a shadow on the wall.

My favorite piece from the Seth exhibit.

This head contained drawings of heads from children.

Gorgeous dress.

My favorite dress in the exhibit.

View outside the MoCA.

Kerry contacted us by this point and we met him at the Ciao Cafe for pizza. It was still pouring rain and we were soaked, but the pizza was tasty as usual. I then showed Randy a bit around the Hongkou Campus, even though it was dark outside and the rains were torrential. Then we headed home and Randy started to pack.

The advantage of going around with Randy was that I forced myself to get out and see and do things that I wouldn't do normally. Even though Kerry was ill, it was still a good visit.