Nanjing Bell Tower. Novembere7

Hi everyone!

Tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou and that is our final stop before heading home. We have been so busy in Nanjing that we are looking forward to a little down time in Guangzhou and the weather should be much better also. It was a tough drive back from Changshu on Thursday and they are hoping that our flight will not be delayed tomorrow because of the fog. We are really disappointed that we haven't been able to take many pictures this time because of the rain and fog.

Sawyer continues to crack us up! When he and Mike went down for breakfast this morning he finished his breakfast and then ordered himself some coffee. Once Mike realized that the waitress was bringing him coffee he wouldn't let her give it to him. Sawyer has never met a stranger so we have been talking to him about good and bad people then he told us that he does not like Chinese people and we told him that we love Chinese people and he said, "Well, if Mom and Dad do then I guess that I do too." Then we talked to him about there are good and bad Chinese people and good and bad Americans. He said, "Well if you say so, but I'm going there to see for myself." He is really picking English up quick. Our tour guide at the museum today was very surprised when she heard him say some English.

We visited the Drum Tower this morning. It was built in 1382 and renovated during the Qing dynasty. The Drum Tower is a beautiful classical two story building set amidst a pretty and secluded garden. The tower originally housed two large drums, 24 small drums and other musical instruments. Today there is only one large but impressive drum remaining on the top of the tower. The drums were used to give the time of day. There was also a bell which would be rung to warn city residents of danger.

Then we went to the Nanjing History Museum. There were items from excavated burial sites that dated back 5000 years. Garmets and jade that were very old also.

In the afternoon we went to the Nanjing massacre museum. It was unbelievable. The Japanese killed 300,000 unarmed Chinese military and civilians in six weeks. The pictures are really horrible. They were taken by the Japanese and captured later in the war. It was disturbing to see the cruelty that people can be capable of.

One interesting thing we learned was that the U.S. lost its first ship of W.W.II during the attack in 1937, which preceded the massacre. It was a gunboat called the Panay and was sunk on the Yangtze River. If this sounds familiar to you, it might be because a movie with Steve McQueen called the Sand Pebbles was made in 1964 based on the story. Interestingly, Mobil Oil also lost three ships in the attack.

On a much happier note, we have learned that our newest addition is quite the artist. We noticed he had been quiet for longer than any time since Monday and were immediately concerned. When we investigated, we found the following drawing





These are pictures of the Bell Tower stairs, a replica of the drum that once stood in the Bell Tower and told everyone what time it was and the beautiful ceiling in the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower was built in the Ming Dynasty.