Qingdao Day 3

Day 3:

We began the day going to the Qingdao TV Tower, which might be the tallest building in Qingdao from bottom to top, but it sits atop a large hill, so it rises above the rest.  It also looks like a combination of the Eiffel Tower and the Pearl Tower in Shanghai.

The tower was, well, different than I expected.  Compared to the World Financial Center's observation deck, this was quit quirky.

The first floor inside the ball at the top was a hands on science museum.  The windows inside the museum were incredibly dirty, making pictures very difficult.  There were all sorts of little experiments and science play toys.  As engineers, we were surprised, and mildly entertained, but we came to the tower to see the views, and were not sure if this was the only floor we would be able to see.  We went upstairs, unsure what we would find there.  Again, we were surprised to find a fun-house and haunted house.  Now, it would have been awesome if it was a good fun house, but it seemed like it was put together by a couple of teenagers with an afternoon or two and an above average budget.  It was really, really strange.

After this, we went down, following the directions of the staff.  We finally found the observation deck outside, and it was a really nice view despite the cloudy weather.

 Good panorama:

Bad panorama:

In the floor below the observation deck, there was a cafe that had quite the translations.  More than meets the eye at first:

After this, we went to the Tsingtao Beer Factory.  Tsingtao is the most famous and most popular beer in China, and it originated in Qingdao.  First, we saw a museum about the history of the brewery;  it was controlled first by Germans, then by the Japanese, and finally the Chinese took control of it.  Then, we saw how the beer was made in their modern factory.  Pictures?  Pictures:

Finally, we left the factory and walked the street next to it in search of a good dinner.  There was restaurant after restaurant lining the street, but we wanted to find something safe.  Finally we settled on a German-looking place and picked out a fish which they cooked and it was actually delicious.  We were too hungry to take pictures, so sorry!  It was extremely fresh and flavorful.  We were worried because the entire street seemed more geared towards shellfish, and I am not supposed to eat the shellfish here.