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the aquarium

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Our last day in this mad city.

I got out onto the street at 05:40 to take photos before the sun was up, and poked about in the alleyways with the camera on a portable tripod. I bought breakfast on the street and went back to the hotel room to find Mari and Kenny had risen.

We packed at a slow pace (the only pace you can, when you have to stop the newly-minted 21-month-old from breaking, pouring, and opening things) and were out the door by about 09:00. With some three hours to kill, we decided to check out the aquarium.

And was that ever the right move! It is by far the best aquarium to take a child. The exhibits are all down at child height, and contain some of the best-kept fish and animals I've ever seen. The layout of the place is simply superb, too, with a logical and creative way of presenting all of the different environments. At one point they have a Thailand/Myanmar exhibit that contained a lot of the fish that you keep in home aquariums. It was essentially a supersized home aquarium, very nicely done.

I strongly recommend the place to parents visiting Shanghai.

Kenny was so overjoyed with all of the things to see, that he was giggling maniacally and fairly sprinting from one exhibit to the next. Naturally he was spent by the time it was all over, and fell asleep within thirty minutes of our departure.