The Migrating Metrognome: Castle in the Clouds

by Mark

I love being in a new city because things like a trip to the glasses store can turn into amazing adventures out around town.

A few weeks ago, my eyes were feeling a bit blurrier than normal so I decided to get them checked out. A friend of ours recently got glasses from Jins, a Japanese company, for $50 including the exam. I figured I might as well give it a try since I haven't had glasses since my eye surgery. Jins is downtown in the Shanghai World Financial Center ("the bottle opener" ) so we planned our trip for Sunday morning with Brian and Anja. When we got downtown, we realized just how nice it was outside. You could actually see a nice blue sky and visibility was better than it had been since summer! On a whim, we decided the best thing to do was to hit the sky bar on the 92nd floor for a quick drink and some views. Amazing decision!

The lobbies of the elevators have some interesting art.

See the Jin Mao in the foreground?

Itty people!!

After the drink, I headed down to get my eyes checked and my face fitted for glasses. With the help of Jessi and Anja, I chose some nice blue frames that make me look extra smart.

Our plan was to go the the fake market so Brian could get some jerseys and an iPad cover, but that would have to wait as there was another giant building next door that was calling our name. The Jin Mao tower is the third tallest building in Shanghai (second, if you don't count the new one that is not open yet) and has a very interesting outer design. The best part is the inside though. There is a grand Hyatt hotel that stretches from about the 50th floor to the 85th floor, and it is completely open on the inside! You can stand at the bottom and look up 35 floors!