Sunday, April 20, 2008

Italian Rendezvous

This morning we met Alice and Guido, Stefania and Damiano for brunch at the local Radisson hotel which puts on quite a nice spread!  This table is close to a children's room where there are toys and Winnie the Pooh on TV.  Perfect!  Alice and Guido's son Francesco was also there who Sophie adores!

Hangzhou 006

Peter was very satisfied after a big meal and a pile of fried bananas.  Yum!
Hangzhou 003

After breakfast, we went across town to see a small model of Venice, Italy in a new entertainment town that is built in the same style of Las Vegas.  There's a hotel with a sphinx, a German Castle, a theme park, and a large outdoor amphitheater. We saw just a small portion, but the scale of the town and the investment is immense!

They wouldn't allow us in as the place is still under construction.  Stefania tried to sweet-talk the guard for awhile but he was concerned about his job, so he said, "No".  Luckily, we found an open door around the side of the complex, so we scooted in there for this picture below.
 Hangzhou 015

Eventually the guard caught up with us, and kicked us out, but in a nice way!  He did direct us to the marketing office however, and they led us around the property briefly.
Hangzhou 016

All of these buildings are apparently completely empty.  These will all be hotel rooms.  The Chinese, from what we can see, don't do much for entertainment.  Now that they have clothes, cars, and disposable income however, this place might be really hopping in a few years!
Hangzhou 019

Jack takes a break and smiles for the camera...
Hangzhou 023

Damiano and Stefania with Peter and Jack in "Venice's" town square, which is apparently a 1:1 replica!
Hangzhou 040 Hangzhou 041

The kids LOVE Stefania and Damiano and talk about them often - and they are so good and patient with all of our kids!
Hangzhou 051

No comments: