SHESHAN--the Cathedral and the Astronomical Observatory

One fine Sunday my friend Zhou Xiaohong and her husband Tong Hua were taking their daughter Ruby back to her university on the west side of Shanghai.   They invited to come along for the trip and the opportunity to visit She Mountain.

Here's Xiaohong and husband Hua

Xiaohong is a Highline exchange alumn from 2001-2002, when she worked with Larry Blades, if I remember correctly.

 I had no ideas what Sheshan was,except that Xiaohong told me that these five mountains (hills) were the only ones in Shanghai.   Now, Seattle has hills--we don't call them mountains--and we walk them as if they are nothing.  Seattle hills go up one side and don't come down on the other side right away, but Sheshan really did look like a mountain, a small one, yes, but a mountain.  The closest thing Seattle has to Sheshan is Queen Anne hill. Queen Anne rises a paltry 139 meters or 456 feet above sea level, and that's starting pretty much at sea level.    Sheshan is 97 meters or about 318 feet.  The internet tells me that there actually twelve hills in the forest ( I assume they are also fairly small).  The elevation of Vashon Island is 375 feet, which means that climbing up my bank from the beach is probably like climbing up Sheshan, but the truth is it looked much higher than 318 feet.

Here we start the climb.  The stairs quickly give way to an easy path after passing the pagoda.

The pagoda has an interesting history, which you can read here. 

 I had to make these pictures large because there beside us was an amazing bamboo shoot rising like Jack's beanstalk.   We were walking through a bamboo forest where interesting things happen.

 These leaves seem to be growing their own buds or pimples.  It looks like something is about to burst through.   My Vashon friend Saphire suggests these might be leaf galls.  Anyone know for sure? Post a comment, please.

 

Hua is leading the way up the winding path, most of which is quite well cared for and not as narrow as this portion. 

 As we near the church we we pass the fourteen stations of the cross.

to 

 Here is the entrance to the National Shrine and Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan, or simply the Sheshan Basilica.   Originally built in 1863 and demolished and rebuilt from1925 to 1935.

 Below the cathedral were these buildings, which I assume are living quarters for the members of the church.
  And as we walk to the north (I think) we have views of the countryside. 

A little below the cathedral is the astronomical observatory.

 

The Sheshan Observatory may be the oldest in China.  It was built in 1899.  Here is the big telescope.

From the observatory, one can look back at the cathedral.

This interesting item is designed with dragons but is meant to look into the sky. My memory fails me but I would guess the original might have been made around the 14th century.   It was used to measure the location of celestial objects.

After walking down the mountain--a nice leisurely hike on gently descending trails through beautiful bamboo forests, we headed to town in the Songlian district, where Ruby met us for dinner.   We went to a Northwestern restaurant, meaning the menu was filled with food from that part of China.  We had lots of noodles, mutton (I think it was the foreleg, roasted), tofu, and vegetables.  It was an interesting assortment with little or no soy sauce.    The northwest is where the mu slims live and I assume this mean was based on this style of cooking.  It was, however, very different from what we see when we go to a Mid-Eastern restaurant.

First they had to figure out the menu:  

There was more food; I just did not get it all!

And, of course, here's Ruby.

The garage was fully packed.  And these stalls seem to have a special innovation added.  It looks as if you could park a second car above the car on the main level. There are chains and pulleys, but no one seemed to know how it actually worked, nor was there a stall with the system in use.  

THANK YOU XIAOHONG AND HUA for a great afternoon and dinner!