Old City Shanghai (11/4/2011)

Friday, November 4, 2011
Despite it being very dreary, I went ahead to meet Brigitte for a walk through the Old City.
Kent had told Christine that I had worked in Switzerland, and Brigitte said she had heard I worked in Switzerland; did I understand German? Ach! I had to confess that I did speak German, but it has been 30 years and then I have a terrible (to Germans) Swiss-German accent. So Brigitte felt okay to speak in German sometimes, and we read the descriptions (in German) in her guide book. (P. S. I found her Iwanowski guide book to be excellent; it's too bad they aren't published in English.)
We wandered down Wenmiao Road, where the sinks are located out on the street:

A cobbler at work:

with his shoe stitching machine:

Later we explored the side streets off Henan Road: A fishmonger:

He kicked his product around with his boot.
A crabmonger:

These were larger than the hairy crabs.
Lotus root:

So now we know the lotus root grows in nodules.
Blue eggs:

Blue eggs are laid by a particular breed of chicken.
All kinds of fungi:

Pretty crowded market area:

Scaling a fish:

As we left the side streets, we passed this woman wearing pajamas and carrying her night-soil bucket:

Back on Henan Road, we visited the Xiaotaoyuan Mosque:

Small Peach Garden Mosque.
Next some shopping in the Yuyuan Bazaar area.
Freshly painted store:

City God Temple screen:

Freshly painted doors of the temple:

The Goddess of Eyes:

She is holding something inscribed with an eye.
Ancestor tower:

A guardian lion holds a ball of wealth in his mouth:

It is carved in such a way that the ball canot be removed.
A shiny little lion:

Temple hallway ceiling:

Temple hallway carvings:

We had a snack of Nanxiang steamed dumplings.
Our tablemates had the dumpling where you drink the hot soup through a straw:

What looks like a straw dispenser in the background actually dispenses chopsticks.
A Yuyuan Bazaar Christmas shop:

Walking back on Dajing Road, we stopped at the Temple of White Clouds.
There was a colorful ceramic ding pot:

Dajing Tower and the last remnant of the city wall:

The tower contains a Taoist temple:

Dajing Tower courtyard:

Brigitte showed me the location of the Flower and Pet Market that Kent and I have looked for on two different occasions!
A row of white-eyes:

Luscinia calliope/Siberian Rubythroat:

Crickets:

Fishing bobbers: