In the morning we took a walk down Xian’s old defensive walls.  These are similar in construction to the Great Wall, but not on such mountainous terrain.  Therefore, instead of curving in all directions, the walls follow a straight, level path for several kilometers.  The walk gave us a scenic, elevated view of the city.  At one point, we walked past an elementary school and could look down at the kids playing games during recess.  Eventually they saw us too, and we spent a few moments exchanging waves.  

We also spent some time today on Xian’s “Snack Street.”  This is a crowded pedestrian mall where one can find lots of food venders and grocery stores, as well as souvenir shops.  As is the case at all these markets, every price is negotiable.  It was really fun to look at all the crafts for sale.  Back and head scratchers were a frequent item among the stores, as was dried fruit at the food shops.  I bought a bag of dried kiwi slices, which were not as sweet or sour as I had expected but still very tasty. 

Happy Valley at the Snack Street

In the late afternoon, our bus driver brought us to the Xian airport.  While checking in, we discovered that the travel agency had accidentally booked nine of our group for a flight to Shanghai that departed one hour later than the rest.  I was among those nine.  While everyone else boarded, we got hotdogs.  There was only one bottle of ketchup in the entire restaurant.  The rest of our group ate at the Shanghai airport while waiting for our flight to arrive.  Due to the delay, we didn’t check in to our hotel until after 1 AM.  Suffice it to say I was glad to have stocked up on sleep the previous evening.

Location: Shanghai, China