Day 8 - Nanjing - October 18

Our pace has slowed down somewhat now that we are back in Nanjing. This was the day that the boys have been eagerly awaiting, ranking just below the Great Wall and the train ride. I don't know if it lived up to their expectations or not, but the Ming Mausoleum was nice. At least what we saw of it. The actual mausoleum was closed to the public that day, but that was ok because what we were interested in was the Stone Elephant Road. The first Ming Emporer and Empress are buried in the mausoleum (ca. 14th Century), along with several concubines who were buried alive when the Empress died. Nice, huh?If you have seen the movie Big Bird in China, you might remember that at one point Big Bird has to find a stone camel. This is where that was filmed. (Some parts were filmed in Suzhou too, and we had fun accidentally coming across filming locations.) Ben's favorite part is when Big Bird says, "A camel?!" So he kept saying it over, and over, and over. He is very good at impersonations and movie quotes, btw. The camel was bigger in real life than it looked on film.

It was a very nice park. It would have been great to see the rest of it, but it was a no go. We were then whisked off to the Nanjing Museum, where a museum guide met us at the door and gave us a lecture about jade and jade use in China. Ben said it was a very boring museum. I think it was mostly the museum guide, but I kept politely nodding yes, and saying, "I see" even though I couldn't understand most of what she said. And then we discovered the real reason we were there. We were led downstairs to the jewelry gift shop, where the lady proceeded to teach us how to tell quality jade for imitation. And then of course, she tried to sell us some. It was incredibly expensive, and I am a cheapskate. So we said Bu Yao, and we left. So much for enjoying the museum.


I can't complain though. We were back at the hotel by noon, and we spent the rest of the day just playing. The kids colored and read and got out the play-doh.

Kate has decided that even though she doesn't want me to hold or help her do anything, she wants my attention as much as possible. I was sitting on the couch holding Ben, and she runs by to get my attention, and then falls down on purpose to see if I will laugh. Evidently she has been taking lessons from the boys. Everytime I stop paying attention, she did it again. Or she would cover her eyes for a rousing game of Where's Kate NaNa? She can hold her hands over her eyes for ages before she brings them down for me to say There she is! She doesn't want me to get to close, she just wants me to watch and talk to her.

Mom and I went out to the grocery store for a bit, and when we came back she was very happy to see us. I got a red canvas shopping bag there, and she spent forever putting things in the bag, carrying them around, and then taking things out of the bag. (Ninnie, you have another bag-lover in the family.) Anytime something goes missing, it is usually in Kate's red bag. She is a funny girl.

For dinner, we went to Yig Noodle, which we think might be a Japanese chain? It had good fried dumplings, rice, and noodles. It was a bit starchy, all in all, but it tasted good and we left with full bellies. And a hankering for Haagen Dazs. Kate loves her chocolate ice cream.