Shijiazhuang...a Small Village in China

This morning we took the metro (subway) from our hotel to the other airport in Shanghai.  Fortunately the subway line that our hotel was on, is the same one for both airports.  We got our hotel because it was close to the airport...little did we know that we would arrive through one and depart from another!!!  It took about 1 1/2 hours to take the train to the airport.  When we got on, it was a little busy and by the time we got to the middle of the city, there was barely breathing room.  If we would have had to get on in the middle, I don't think we could have done it.  We have WAAAAAYYYYY too much luggage.  Since we've been married, I don't think we have ever checked bags when we fly somewhere.  This time, we each have our backpack and carry-on suitcase, plus we have two suitcases with things for Shen Yao.  Brian hopes that she's really hungry when we get her, so that we can use up all the food we brought.  I just hope that she likes the toys and books and stuff that we brought. 
Anyway...we got to the airport and checked in, got a Pepsi and boarded the plane.  The flight was just short of 2 hours.  They served us lunch on the plane - some kind of rice casserole (or hot dish, if you're from Minnesota).  It was pretty good and it gave us something to do on the flight.
We arrived in Shijiazhuang (pronounced something like Sher Tia Zuang) at about 2:30pm.  Apparently the name of the city means something like "Small Village".  It is a medium sized city, but don't let that fool you.  According to our guide, there are about 3-4 million people here!!!  It's amazing how different your perspective on city sizes can be based on where you're from. 
Our guide is Bill and he's from Beijing.  He is a tour guide all over China.  We took a bus into the town and then a taxi to our hotel.  I guess I should say 2 taxis, since there wasn't enough room in one for all our luggage. : )  We checked into our hotel, a 5 star!!!  Nicer than anything I've stayed in at home.  They have attendants for just about everything.  We don't even have to press the button for the elevator by ourselves. 
After check-in, Bill took us to the grocery/super store down the street.  We got a few treats for people at home and some stuff to drink, since we can't drink the water.  We ate supper at a very authentic restaurant.  Everything was really good, especially the noodles.  After supper we headed back to the hotel and I took a bubble bath in our really cool bathtub.  I'm feeling very sleepy, but I know I need to stay awake for another few hours or I will be awake at 3 or 4 tomorrow morning.  Brian got me a new computer game, so I think I'll see if that will do the trick.
Tomorrow is the day we've been waiting for.  They are bringing Shen Yao to our hotel, so I'll post more tomorrow including pictures.