Ancient Culture Street

Where to go in Tianjin to spend a couple of hours while Ellie is playing ultimate frisbee with her friends at the school?  We asked around, and the consensus:  Ancient Culture Street.

A series of art shops, trinkets, and this and that.

 The one thing I REALLY wanted to buy was a cheap fan to stick in my purse.  Now that it is cooler outside, all the stores have turned off the air conditioning, so it is stuffy and hot.  

A fan is the perfect way to "bring my own" AC.

 (See. I really was there, though I don't know why I always close my eyes.)

We also went into a mall, just to check out the Carrefour store.  I

was hoping for some good French chocolate, but

it was all just regular Chinese goods. 

And see those bars?  They keep the shopping carts from

leaving the store.  (And all the stores have them.)

So when I buy groceries, I have to leave the cart at the door,

grab as many sacks as I can carry and go find the driver, all the while hoping

that the remaining items will be there when I get back for the second load.

It makes me not want to buy much!  (Isn't that counter-productive?)

 The gates to these streets area really cool.   Makes me feel like I'm in China or something.

We walked across the He Hei River (or the Hei He River-- I can never keep it straight)

going towards the Italian section of town.

 We didn't do much exploring--we'd run out of time--but I understand there's an excellent

plate of spaghetti there at some restaurant.  

Okay.  Funny story.  We've eaten out a fair amount over the past two months, 

mostly Western-style eateries.  Elizabeth often orders spaghetti.

She has yet to eat something even remotely resembling the stuff she loves, 

except when we eat at home--because I can buy Hunt's spaghetti sauce (in a can) at the stores.

At the restaurants, there's been stuff with Chinese sausage (ugh).

Or sauce filled with tiny, chopped green peppers--jalapeno, not bell. (HOT!!!)

So, it would be nice to find someplace that does spaghetti right.

 And there's even an old church.  I don't know if it is still used for services 

or if it was taken over for other things, like being a museum.

In Tianjin, there is a Catholic church, a Christian Fellowship (non-denominational),

and a Mormon congregation.  All the teachers at the international school attend the Christian

Fellowship.  The John Deere families from Mexico attend the Catholic church.

And we drive the 50 kilometers to meet with other

members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And I'm just fine with that!