February 22 - Shanghai, Day 2

Today dawned with the sun trying to break through, what I thought was fog, but turned out to be smog. It never REALLY burns off, I have learned!

My tour today was “Shanghai Sampler.” It is meant to give an overview of the City and a visit to three main sites. Our first stop was at Fu Gardens. Upon exiting the tour bus our guide gave each of us a slip of paper with the address of the Bus Park (which I assumed was where we were] and address of the Port. “….just in case we got separated.” I stuffed it in my pocket thinking “I will never get separated from the group!” The guide took off with 40 of us trailing behind him. He turned up one road, down another, right on another, left on another… as the line strung out further and further … until we reached the “square” FILLED with people and I could no longer see the guide. I looked behind me and discovered no one from the group was there. I walked around for a while trying to find the group….to no avail! I found the slip of paper in my pocket and decided to try to find the bus and wait for the group to return. After showing the paper to numerous policemen (who did not speak English, but, lucky for me, the addresses were also in Chinese). Each one pointed me onward in the direction I should go. After 45 minutes of walking I knew I was not returning to where we originally got off the bus. That was only a 10 minute walk!

Along the route I came upon the Catholic Diocesan Office and Cathedral! Since it was Saturday everything was locked, but I did take a picture to prove I found it. To make a long, rather anxiety-producing walk short I found the Bus Park, which turned out to be where shuttle busses were bringing people from the ship who wished to tour on their own. [Definitely NOT what I had in mind!!!] My bus was not there and was not coming there. I found an agent from the tour company and had him call headquarters. I wanted MY tour guide to know where I was so he could continue on the tour. I told the agent I had put in my 10,000 steps for one day and was heading back to the ship.

So, this turned into a day with good news (weather), bad news (lost the tour group), good news (found the Catholic Cathedral), good news (I can communicate with police in a foreign land and a foreign language), good news (I don’t panic easily), good news (I made it safely back to the ship). While it all ended well, I would be happy not to have this experience again. I believe it was YOUR prayers that guided me and kept me safe! Thank you!!!