Shanghai part 1 - WOW, somebody cleaned up here!

We arrived in Shanghai on Friday late afternoon. The plan was, to stay about one week there. Due to the Expo opening and the public holidays around this time of the year, we thought it would be a wise decision to not travel during this time. We were looking forward to some chilling out and some kids-time with Wouter, Lucy and family! :)

No jumping queue with the Swizzy at the Taxi stand / Kein Vordrängeln bei den Schweizern am Taxi Warteplatz

We have been to Shanghai about two years ago - but this time the city obviously made a real effort to look clean and neat for the grand opening of the Shanghai World Expo. The whole city looked fantastic and the weather was just brilliant (clear blue sky)!

What a beautiful welcome here in Shanghai / Was für ein schönes Willkommen in Shanghai

We call it the 'bottle opener' - dunno the official version... / Wir nennen es den 'Flaschenöffner' - die offizielle Bezeichnung kennen wir nicht...

We managed to catch the kids just before bed-time. After dinner it was time for the opening of the Shanghai Expo. Before the opening all the ministers and VIPs had a dinner at some fancy hotel. Wouters' apartment is on the route of their journey from the Hotel to the Expo area. Therefore the security measurements were extremely high!

A few days ago Wouter received a letter with instructions on how to behave on that day:

• Do NOT open the windows.


• You are NOT allowed to stand on your balconies.


• Do NOT hang any clothes outside.


• Do NOT put out any banner or flags.
• etc...

No Chinese celebration without big fireworks. Lucky for us we could actually catch them from Wouters house. Perfect view :)

Peter is enjoying his four o'clock fruits... / Peter geniesst seine z'vieri Früchte...

Sophie & Uncle Pascal....

Sophie bouncing around on our bed with Auntie Mishell / Sophie am hüpfen auf unserem Bett mit Tante Mishell

Three police-men guarding the entrance to our house...ridiculous! / Drei Polizisten bewachten den Eingang zu unserem Haus...lächerlich!
The street outside the house was beautifully lit for the VIPs / Die Strasse vor dem Haus war schön beleuchtet für die VIPs

Where the spectacle will be hapening shortly - the Expo area / Wo es in küzre zum Spektakel kommt - das Expo Gelände

And there they were....fireworks! / Und da waren es...Feuerwerk!

After the spectacle was over, Lucy and the kids went to bed. It was then that Wouter surprised us with his treasure: home-brewed beer! Yes, Wouter turned his ktichen into a brewery and produced his own beer! FANTASTIC! We enjoyed a glass of the homemade brew and played a first few rounds of Mahjong. What a great evening!

Proud brewing master - well done, Wouter! / Stolzer Braumeister - gut gemacht, Wouter!

Good, full taste - Wouters beer! / Guter, voller Geschmack - Wouters Bier!

On Saturady, there was a big BBQ planned at a Wiener and Jean's place (friends of Wouter and Lucy). And it was the perfect day for it - sunny and warm!

Peter and Sophie were ready to go to the BBQ... / Peter und Sophie waren bereit um zu gehen....

....but Auntie Mishell was still preparing / ....aber Tante Mishell war immernoch am parat machen!

Interestingly - there were three mixed couples (Asian chick & Western dude). Two of them alread have kids (guess which couple hasn't?) - so we could get a good idea how cute our kids will look like one day (hopefully!!...hehe).

And, not just that...all the ladies brought some food (Thai curry, Greek salad, mushroom salad, Vietnamese spring rolls etc.) and all the men brought meat (chicken wings, fish and beef). *Delicious*

And of course there was a lot of liquid nutritions (beer and wine) provided as well.

In Asian culture, the women take charge of the BBQ :) / In der asiatischen Kultur, übernehmen die Frauen die Kontrolle am Grill :)

*Slurrrrp* - some of the food highlights.... / *Slurrrrp* - einige der Essens-Hightlights...

May I introduce - Max, the son of Wiener and Jean / Darf ich vorstellen - Max, der Sohn von Wiener und Jean

The afternoon went by really quickly. And thanks to the kids one can not get bored...They are always up to something and we took turns in looking after them...

Sophie was getting hungry with all these nice smells in the air.... / Sophie war hungrig mit all diesen guten Gerüchen in der Luft....

Feeding of the small lions.... / Raubiterfütterung...zuerst die kleinen....

..and then the big lions! / ....und dann die grossen!

*Yummy* the food was excellent! / *Yummy* das Essen war super!

Enough liquids on a hot day is important as well... / Genug Flüssigkeit an einem heissen Tag ist auch sehr wichtig...

Peter had the urge to go and clean up / Peter wollte aufräumen gehen

Proud dady (of Max) with camera - hey Wiener! / Stolzer Vater (von Max) mit Kamera - Hey Wiener!

Business lady very relaxed...Nadia, the master of the cheescake! / Geschäftsfrau ganz relaxed...Nadia, die Meisterin des Cheescake!

Dave - Wouter's ex-neighbour and also our Mahjong-buddy / Dave, der ex-Nachbarn von Wouter und auch unserer Mahjong Buddy

Dave's wife / Die Frau von Dave

The kids playing in the sand pit / Die Kinder im Sandkasten

The food highlight that has to be mentioned (since there is no picture) - is the homemade cheescake of Nadia! WOW... Wouter and I ate about three pieces each during the afternoon...*finger-licking-good*!!!

Some more food highlights.... / Noch mehr Essens-Highlights...

She cooked the Thai Curry *Yummy* - the big Buddha's wive! / Sie kochte das Thai Curry *Yummy* - die Frau vom grossen Buddha!

He liked to call himself 'the big Buddha' / Er nannte sich der 'grosse Buddha'

Wouter trying to catch the moment / Wouter versuchte den Moment festzuhalten

What happens if you add lots of water to the sand pit? / Was passiert wenn Du viel Wasser zu dem Sandkasten hinzufügst?

Peter wanted to clean up the mess / Peter wollte die Sauerei aufräumen

But the boys haven't finished playing yet... / Aber die Jungs haben noch nicht fertig gespielt...

Sophie is practicing for the wet t-shirt contest / Sophie ist am üben für den Wet T-shirt Wettbewerb

One episode we have to disclose here:

After having played in the sand pit and with water for a while, Peter had to remove his pants because they were very dirty and his diapers (they were wet for some reason too) before going inside the house to continue playing.

It came as it had to come and suddenly we heared some screaming from inside the house: PEEEEEEEEEETER..........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! OOooops...what happened? Poor Peter had to poo....And where is the best spot for doing that? Correct...on the carpet of your friends!

*Whoppppeeee* Hehe....Sorry Peter - forgive us for telling this storry.

The innocent looking Peter / Der unschuldig schauende Peter

Mishell entertaining the boys... / Mishell unterhält die Jungs....

And then it was Pasci's turn to look after the kids... / Und dann war Pasci an der Reihe nach den Kindern zu schauen

Game over - time to go home..... / Game over - Zeit um nach Hause zu gehen....

After a long afternoon, a lot of food and even more to drink, it was time to say 'bye-bye'... At home, all of us were quite exhausted (the sun was very stong on that day) and we just chilled on the couch while watching a DVD (Hangover).

All of us went to bed early because there was more program on Sunday .....zzzzzzZZZZZzzzZZZZZzzz.....