It is October...

So what's new in China in October???  A week long vacation for Brian from work to celebrate Chinese National Day-Golden Week!  Blake is having a lot of fun at school, especially in music and gardening, and Lindsay and baby girl and just tired!  Yes, I think everyone knows now, but we found out from a loose lipped doctor that we are expecting a baby GIRL by November 8th...I'm telling her that she must not be late like her brother!

We spent most of Golden Week in Shanghai where there are more sites to see and things to explore, much easier to get around when Brian is there with me while i am expecting and have a 2 year old in tow.  We had a fun adventure finding out way to the Shanghai Wild Animal Park, it was 1.5 hour cab ride from our hotel (near the hospital)....I guess i should have researched that a little better but it was still worth the drive....until Blake vomited in the car about 1 hour into the drive.  I think he might have a touch of his mom's car sickness habits and while i had taken dramamine, Blake really hasn't ever had an issue but the drivers in China are not like riding 1.5 in an air conditioned minivan with Mickey Mouse on the tv at home :)  So we cleaned him up, put on our extra set of clothes I am so glad i carry, and made it to the park!  Brian wasn't thrilled that I had none on me and most of what didn't land on Blake got him, but that's ok :)

Monkeying Around the park!

 When we pulled up there were a lot of people walking into the entrance, almost reminded me of a busy day at Disneyland, but there are so many more people here in China everywhere we go seems "crowded".  Once we got inside and saw how large the park was it really wasn't so crowded and was easy to navigate.  In reading reviews ahead of time (of course I still didn't check the location from our hotel) I found out that half the park is for walking and the other half is larger animals and you go by tram to see.  Also, on the tram route they say it isn't good for people with weak stomachs because animals are fed live food, and being 8 months pregnant i didn't want to witness that, although my husband was all for it.  Well we decided Blake would only make it a few hours before needing a nap so we would go with the walking route and kids area,

On our walk around the park we saw giraffes, hippos, baby tigers, big tigers, lions, elephants, the playground, PANDAS and lots of different monkey species.  It feels like you get a lot closer to the animals here in China than they would ever let you in the US.  We entered a monkey exhibit that you had to go through the fence doors to get in, they have something similar in the Phoenix Zoo, but you could have reached out and touched them they were so close, and jumping around from tree to tree, Blake was very entertained!  While in the park we were able to find some popcorn which is kettle corn here, no buttered popcorn, and cold drinks!  On our way out of the park we passed by the tram line, they don't have the signs our saying "from this point __ minutes" but I can tell you it was at least an hours wait to get on a tram...not happening today!  We were surprisingly able to get a taxi immediately after leaving the park and went on our way back to the hotel for a nap!

The next day we decided to go to the Austrian Chocolate Company for a tour, Zotters Chocolate Tour was so fun, and delicious!  I think by the end Brian was chocolated out, but we all had fun.  When we enter they show you a video about the company and their bean to bar process of organic chocolates.  The video was in German but we were able to read the subtitles :)  After the video, you walk through a long hallway where you can taste the cocoa bean from start to finish through different steps.  the raw beans were very bitter, and as you walked along the taste got better, they showed cocoa powder, cocoa shavings, etc.  each of which you get to taste.  They had a few of their fruit flavored chocolates in here to taste, OMG! they were so yummy, black current, raspberry, and passion fruit!

Once you get through this hallway you are in the melted chocolate room, here you can taste many of their 250 chocolates from baking chocolate that is bitter, to sweet milk and white chocolate!  They are constantly moving and warm so when you pour it onto your spoon its amazing!  In this room you can also make your own chocolate and then it sets while you are on the tour and you collect it at the end to take home!  Blake and I made a Mickey Mouse shaped chocolate with hazelnut nougat and caramel chocolate, roasted almonds, macadamia nuts, raisins and marscapone eyes!  (We didn't eat this until we got home, but it was SOOO good!)  On to more chocolate, as you walk up stairs there are machines you pull to taste different types of chocolate, no names though you have to guess the flavors...so maybe another 10 types to try here....still haven't had enough chocolate, at the top of the stars are all the chocolates they make into bars, maybe another 20 kinds, then another room of the dark chocolates.....it was really nice to try things you normally wouldn't buy a whole bar of but I enjoyed every flavor...not surprising its chocolate.  The only one Blake spit out was the orange chocolate.

The next stop on our tour was drinking chocolates, apparently these are smaller bars, you put one in a glass of milk and heat it up.  All the drinks were served warm and with a pitcher of water too.  My favorite was the caramel, they also had one made with their Chile chocolate which i found a bit spicy!  Next to this was a Nougat tasting station rotating different types of nougat to try, i really like the hazelnut nougat!  And on the side of these stations were the chocolate shots.  You can try a whiskey chocolate shot right there!  Brian said it was tasty and you could certainly tell there was whiskey in it!  The final room in the upstairs part of the tour was the balleros room where the chocolates are rolled and hardened, these of course were good too, the pistachio flavor was my favorite!

Downstairs to the final room on the tour allows you to see into the main area where they are preparing the chocolate and more tasting!  Brian has decided to cut himself off at this point but Blake and I were still up for trying more flavors.  There was a conveyor belt that showed the flavor and had samples to taste as they went by.  Flavors from Red Wine, Vermouth, Pineapple, Nuts, etc.  Here is the link to the site so you can check out all their different flavors, I couldn't believe the selection they offer and all organic and very pure tasting no wax after taste.  At the very end we picked up our personalized chocolate, bought a few bars as gifts and headed to find some lunch :)

Zotter Chocolate Tour

What a fun time in Shanghai with dad having time off from work to hang out with Blake!