Lantern Festival

Last night was the Lantern Festival here in Nanjing.  WOW!!! It was nearly continuous fireworks from about 7:00pm onward.  We stayed in our room as our guide told us there would be nearly 500,000 people in the Confucious Temple area.  She wanted to make sure we didn't get separated.  JA and I ventured out early (about 5:30) to grab something for dinner and bring it back to the hotel.  We had a great seat for the show - especially since our rooms are on different sides of the hotel.  We could see nearly ALL the fireworks from our 11th floor windows. 

It was also interesting to watch the police doing crowd control.  The entrance to the Confucious Temple area is next to our hotel.  The police were there in force and lined up elbow-to-elbow to direct the crowd.  They had also put up some police tape to cordon off some areas.  Every now and then, someome would attempt to duck under the tape and run, but the police would quickly grab them and bring them back. 

We took some video of all of the fireworks, but unfortunately, I can't offload it from my camera.  I thought for sure I had done this before we left home, but apparently I hadn't.  I need the camera software to do it properly, so you'll just have to wait until we get home to see our videos! 

Later today, we leave for Guangzhou. It is the last official leg of our journey where we complete the American side of the adoption.  The biggest concern here, of course, is the TB test for GW.  I have no reason to believe that it will be an issue, but I will feel much better after the results are read. 

Today will be an easy day packing and hanging out around the hotel.  We need to be here at noon to get some paperwork and then we leave for the airport at 2:00pm.  I'll be glad to get to GZ where I will "know" some cyberfriends that we can hang out with.  There have been a few families here in Nanjing, but other than seeing them at breakfast and the Civil Affairs office, we haven't interacted with them at all.  Of course, since they are adopting babies, there isn't much for us to share/experience together anyway.