Last week I took a motorcycle sidecar tour with my friends, Andrea and Anne. We started out with coffee at a German cafe, and then headed out for a 2 1/2 hour tour of old Shanghai.
The motorcycles were WWII 1930's BMW replicas, and made us feel like we should be donning bomber jackets, and old fashion goggles. Even though it is a western company with experienced drivers, with the crazy people that travel the roads of Shanghai, it was definitely the most dangerous thing I have done here. It was also, one of the most exciting.
It was an absolutely beautiful day, with a blue sky and springtime temperatures, and we enjoyed seeing areas that we had not seen before, and some we had, from out in the open, instead of from behind the tinted glass of a Buick minivan.
We traveled through the old Japanese, American, and French concessions, down the old "opium street," through Skikumen housing communities, and to an old slaughterhouse which is being renovated into shops and restaurants.
We finished the tour back at the German cafe for mulled wine and lunch. We had a great time,and I would love to do it again, if I can get up the nerve to chance my luck in the open air, on the roads of Shanghai for another day.
"Opium Street" with all its bright colored signs,
Shikumen housing shopping street.... a "hardware" store and an appliance "store," 
a shoe repairman,
old Shikumen housing,
and my three favorites, the land of lost remotes, that Shanghaiese fashion statement... pajamas as day wear, and dinner and laundry all in one convenient location!
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