Virtuoso Life - September/October 2008 - (Page 60) DESIGN TOUR West Nanjing Road or have your concierge summon a tailor to measure you for suits and dresses that will be delivered in a couple of days. Taxis are absurdly inexpensive, but have the address of your destination written in Mandarin, and do take day trips to the historic cities that surround Shanghai. Here are ten enticing attractions: The not-so-modest Humble Administrator’s Garden. The Bund In the colonial era, this curving row of beaux arts banks was the financial hub of Asia, and their gorgeous lobbies are mementos of their wealth. Upscale boutiques and restaurants such as Laris and M on the Bund now occupy spaces where clerks once kept accounts. Across the street is a broad riverside promenade where locals practice tai chi in the morning. Shanghai Museum Five thousand years of priceless artifacts and artworks are housed in a building whose shape symbolizes “a round heaven and a square earth.” Close by is the aptly named Grand Theater, Shanghai’s premier stage, and the Urban Planning Exhibition Centre, where scale models show how the city has grown and give a glimpse of future developments. Liquid lunch: A restaurant on Hangzhou’s West Lake. 60 V I RT U O S O L I F E (GARDEN) YANN LAYmA/ GETTY ImAGES; (LAKE) mICHAEL WEBB
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