Before leaving for our flight heading down to Chengdu tonight, one of the last things that we did in Shanghai was go to the rooftop bar/restaurant at the Bvlgari hotel, which I actually learned about because I follow Fuchsia Dunlop on Instagram. She had visited Shanghai earlier this year and marveled at the view of the city from this bar. It was definitely a unique view overlooking the city, with of course, the Oriental Pearl tower and the Huangpu River, one that I hadn’t previously seen before, so I was intent on visiting when we came. We ordered drinks and sat at the bar during the fully booked afternoon tea hour. And as Chris noted, we were literally the only two people in the entire restaurant/bar who were actually having alcoholic drinks. Everyone else was having afternoon tea, tea sandwiches, and sweets.

The view was spectacular from the roof of this hotel, with both indoor and outdoor areas. It was late afternoon, and just a little cloudy, but still clear enough to fully see the entire skyline, as well as the Huangpu wrap around us. From this view, you can see a mix of apartment buildings as well as skyscrapers: cosmopolitan Shanghai — a little mix of everything. I spent a while staring out at this view and had a hard time thinking about anyone who could possibly look at this city and think it was not an attractive one, especially given the river running through it. It’s still special to me since it’s the first international city I’ve visited, and this view will be emblazoned in my mind for quite some time after we leave; I’m pretty sure of it.