As I said I'm going to make the kids post something every day.  It will serve as a good travel diary for them. Its amazing how quickly you forget some of the things that made a big impression on you after only a day or two. Can't promise it will alway be riveting reading or well written but that is OK. Here are a few things that made a big impression on me in the first 3 days

We've been riding the subway a lot. The subways themselves are pretty easy to navigate. Every station has maps of the system and the area in Chinese and English. Maps even help you decide which exit to take from the station. Every platform has signs showing the whole route with indications as to which direction the train is going so it is easy to pick the right train. Google maps doesn't always come up with the best route and you can't even get Google maps on your phone unless you have gone to the trouble of setting up a VPN and routing your query through the great firewall to a server on the outside world, something that is slow and a bit finicky. Doesn't always work. So, you are often best figuring out your routes yourself.The coolest thing on the subway was the animated ads on the subway tunnel walls. As you are rushing down the tunnel animated ads are showing on the walls of the tunnel visible through the train windows. Its essential a 21st century kinetoscope running at what looks like about 12 frames per second. Spent a long time arguing with the kids on exactly how this works.

Mystery exercise equipment

We've also discovered that credit cards work almost no where. Going to have to depend on cash from the ATM machines instead. Fortunately our ATM cards work so far...

Shanghai is full of little alley's that lead of the main streets. Each one leads to a little collection of houses or apartments. Sometimes with just the alley as a common area. Sometimes with a little courtyard. We walked into one and found a courtyard full of public exercise equipment. Not sure how to use all the stuff.  We also

On our first full day we also ended up in a warren of little alley's in the French Quarter. These were full of little stalls selling food, art, or souvenirs.  I really liked the stall selling grilled bull frogs in 10 flavors but I was too afraid to try it. I also saw a stall selling giant strings of dried chili peppers. I guess the "Ristras" we know from the southwest United States are more universal than we knew.

Shop full of Chinese Ristras

Grilled Bullfrog-comes in 10 flavors