Sunday, October 30, 2011

Secret Gardens Weekend & Halloween (10/29-30/2011)

Saturday, October 29, 2011
Dreary day. Decided to check out a couple places on the secret garden list.
First, the Shanghai Opera House Garden:
A patch of green lawn without the so-called "grass nazis" to kick you off.
A stone table and chairs:
Old sycamores & Kent:
Hollow sycamore and flagstone path:
Next to the garden and in the middle of a block:
A 1936 bank building in the Neoclassical style with art deco features:
The building is now offices for the Shanghai Opera:
Next, the garden behind the Huashan Hospital:
No water in this fountain.
The carved stone screen:
A stone representing the "Emersion of Hua Tuo: a life saver in ancient China:"
Hua Tuo (c140-208) was the first physician recorded to have performed surgery under anesthesia.
A Buddha lantern: 
Lake with arched bridge:  
The arched bridge:
This garden had every feature of a traditional Chinese garden!
Zigzag bridge:
Parallel plank bridge: 
Evil spirits can't cross this bridge either, they would just fall in after the first plank!
Mosaic walkway:
Reflecting pond:
Stone boat:
"Floating" pavilion:
Carved wood detail:
100-year old wisteria vine:
Covered corridor:
Large ceramic vase:
"Band stand:"
We walked through Jing-An Park.
An Indonesian sculpture?
Bali Restaurant:
Frog fountain:
Shanghai Centre:
Starbucks kiosks: 
Big Bamboo Sports Bar drink menu:
Plaza 66 fountain:

Sunday, Ocotber 30, 2011
A sunny day today.
The Songyuan or cemetery was also on the secret garden list:
Song Qingling Mausoleum:
Song Qingling (1893-1981) was Sun Yat-sen's wife and a philanthropist:
She is buried to the right of her parents' graves:
Fatsia japonica:
A grave marker of a loving couple:
Note not only the pair of white doves, but the Great Wall carved into the top of the stone.
Grave marker of Zhang Leping:
Zhang Leping (1910-1992) was a cartoonist and he is depicted with his character Sanmao.
This guy seems to be holding a folded fan:
Yu Zhenfei (1902-1993), Kunqu opera star.
Grave marker of Jiang Yuequan:
A musician shown with a Sanxuan, a 3-stringed Chinese guitar.
Grave marker of Xie Zhiliu:
Xie Zhiliu (1910-1997), painter and calligrapher, seems to be wearing sunglasses.
Grave marker of Jiang Shaoji (1919-1995):
An internist and gastroenterologist, shown with a microscope and relief of a stomach and large intestine.
Grave markers of westerners:
Including Talitha A. Gerlach, an American who worked for the YWCA and whose cause was the practice of binding feet, and Ruth F. Weiss, an Austrian-Chinese educator and journalist.
A grave marker with twin arched bridges:
Grave marker of Sir Elly Kadoorie and Lady Laura Kadoorie:
The Kadoorie family played a significant role in Shanghai's history. Sir Elly was a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist. Part of his legacy includes the Marble Mansion.
We had lunch at India Kitchen at Soho3319, the new food street.
Our special vegetarian samosa:
Soho3319 off of Hongmei Road:
That evening we attended the Grand Gateway Halloween Party. We somehow missed the trick-or-treaters who were supposed to come to our door, so we took our treats to the party.
The Club was decorated for Halloween:
Getting ready for a concert by students from the Livingston American School:
Dinner buffet: 
Happy Halloween!