Every year at YuYuan Gardens is a large lantern festival. We have spent five Chinese New Years in Shanghai, but have never gone. It is cold in February and the thought of fighting the people doesn’t make you want to run over to see the lanterns. This year, my friend, Linda, organized a group to go together – a better way to fight the crowds is with your own crowd! On this Saturday, we had an unseasonably warm day – 75f! We took the ferry with Linda’s family to meet the other three families at Din Tai Fun, a favorite dumpling restaurant. The kids sat in a room of their own while the adults sat in another area. I love that our kids are old enough to take care of their own needs.
The first stop after dinner was the cotton candyman. He was a fun cotton candyman spinning the cotton candy long and big for 5rmb each.
The cotton candy was double the size of Eleri’s head!
The cotton candy was almost as big as Maddy.
Now, to work our way through the walkways of YuGardens with the crowds to see the lanterns.
At dinner, it was discussed we would NOT walk over the zig-zag bridge with the masses of people…but we did!
Little Carlos on his Dad’s shoulder in the crowds.
Linda and Maddy on the bridge with the crowds.
Fighting the crowds across the zig-zag bride is well worth the fight. All of these fun lanterns are over the water.
After crossing the bridge, the girls wanted the sugar coated strawberries – a chinese street food. The strawberries are covered with a hard sugar/honey coating.
On our way back home to the ferry, we stepped up to the Bund to see the lights. Meggan’s family is new to Shanghai and her children have not seen the Bund at night. Also, the weather was so beautiful to enjoy the lights.
The Pearl Tower was all red for Chinese New Year.
The Citi Bank building had various “I love Shanghai” lights.
We took the ferry back to Pudong and stopped at Linda and Bills for a drink on their deck…in February! It was a fun night seeing the lanterns with friends.