Friends from Far Away

This week we had some friends in town from the US. We had a really good time spending time with them and having our kids all play together. They have a song who is basically right in between Maddie and Jacob and both Maddie and Jacob had a lot of fun playing with him. It wasn't the best weather, but we were still able to make due.

I took Tuesday and Wednesday off so that we could go around and see some different parts of Shanghai. On Tuesday we left the kids with our Ayi and did the Pudong Riverwalk, took the ferry over to Puxi and then walked to Yu Yuan. There the skies opened up and it rained and rained, luckily we had our umbrellas and were ready for the rain. The rain was actually a great thing because they kept it from being too crowded and it kept the temperature at a good level. We bought some little trinkets and art and overall had a good time. We went home and were able to relax for the rest of the day.

On Wednesday we went to the Science and Technology fakes market where they did a bunch of shopping to get gifts for friends and family. We went home and tried to go to the indoor pool in our complex, unfortunately they wanted to charge $10 per person, which was quite the ripoff, so we said thanks but no thanks. We then left the kids with our Ayi and went out to dinner. Our friends are planning on spending another 2 weeks in Taiwan, where they would be indulging in all sorts of Chinese food so they wanted to try to get a western meal. We went to a restaurant called Blue Frog, which I had heard mixed reviews.

I decided to get the Cheese Steak Sandwich, which was a special for the summer. Let me start by saying that I went to college in Philly and know what an authentic Philly cheesesteak is (and lover the authentic, Whiz wit), so I want to clarify that they are not saying that they are trying to create a Philly cheesesteak, rather they were just trying to do a cheese steak sandwich. I am normally very very hesitant to get any kind of cheesesteak outside of the philly area, cause they for the most part are not any good. This sandwich consisted of thinly sliced sirloin (clearly not trying to compete with Philly), gruyere cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms on a fresh baguette. It was the combo of all these things that attracted my eye and let me say, it was awesome. Again, nothing like a Philly cheesesteak, not even in the comparison realm, but this thing had some great meat, the gruyere was a great compliment along with the grilled onions and mushrooms (they were a bit salty, but not too bad). Shanghai and sandwiches, let along Shanghai and a cheesesteak, definitely do not belong together, but in this instance I was pleasantly surprised, so thanks to Blue Frog for a nice evening with friends.