Made our way to the Expo before the Shanghai workers were off for the weekend.
We got to a remote part of the Expo in a taxi and took the Metro in... aside from the security, they checked our bags and wanded us like we were going through an airport... it was a pretty easy process to get there.
Let me first say that my camera ran out of juice partway through, which I was definitely sad about, we made it through to a see a lot of the Exhibits in Sections A (Euro-centric) and C (where more of the Asian Countries were). The buildings were gorgeous... from the outside. The only building we went into was Nepal. The lines were immense... for example on the way in there was an announcement that the wait for the Saudi Arabia building to get inside was 5 hours long. Just one Exhibit.
Let me recommend to you the Expo Site at www.expo.shanghaidaily.com if you're at all interested in seeing what is there... the buildings are amazing and because my camera died I can only show you a portion... Angie had her camera and took more pictures later so I'll post those if I ever get them.
Shanghai Daily explains:
World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, is a landmark international gathering showcasing urban innovation and cultural diversity in the 21st century. Held between May 1 and October 31, 2010, it will feature exhibitions from nearly than 200 participating countries and 50 international organizations.
If nothing else, check out the England pavilion which was my favorite building... it was crazy... like a big porcupine...60,000 Acrylic Rods containing 24,000 plant species at the ends of each of the rods. At the end of the Expo, they're gifting the rods to Chinese Schoolchildren.
You'll ask, so I'll point you to the USA Pavilion... which was underwhelming in reality. It was Texas Day so it was weird to see the taller Americans walking around in Cowboy Hats around the Chinese people who were there for sightseeing.
* FINLAND *
This is Finland's Pavillion- looked like a big basket:
You can see people waiting in line here/craziness:
*DENMARK*
The Statue of the Little Mermaid from the Hans Christian Anderson story was moved from the first time to inside the Pavillion from Copenhagen...
*LATVIA*
Apparently 100,000 plastic cards around it moved with the wind... pretty cool.. you can see the people winding their way inside...
*GREECE*
Given the state of the economy in Greece, not surprised that this was a little boring... was supposed to represent a human city or POLIS
*SWEDEN*
I watched one of the videos on Shanghai Daily and they talked about the four elements as being represented by the four parts of the building... more info here...
*TURKEY*
From Shanghai Daily: On the exterior of the 2000-square-meter Turkish Pavilion, three-dimensional images represent scenes found engraved on the walls of houses in Catalhoyuk (7400BC-6000BC) in southern Anatolia, which was a cultural centre during the Neolithic period.
So, right around here, we decided we wanted to cool off a little and Angie wanted some coffee so we went inside the cafe on the corner of Turkey and chilled.
Part of the luck of the Irish? They had grass as part of their building, complete with "KEEP OFF THE GRASS" signs...we thought about going in here but it was closed for an event.
*IRELAND*
*GERMANY*
Their theme was "Balancity"... the building looks much cooler from the side...
*FRANCE*
Apparently you can take 3D online tours too...
*The NETHERLANDS*
So this is about where my juice ran out on my camera, we did hop on one of the open golf cart buses and made our way to the Zone A where the Chinese Pavilion was.... that thing is IMMENSE. No other words for it.
