16 Dec 2017 - Shanghai Day 2: Xintiandi (新天地) and World's biggest Starbucks

From Yuyuan, we took the metro to Xin Tian Di (新天地) which is just 2 stations away.  It has become an urban attraction that holds the historical and cultural legacies of the city.  Xin Tian Di is unique because of its concept of construction. It retains the antique walls, tiles and exterior of the Shikumen housing of old Shanghai. On the other hand, its interior embodies a totally different world of international gallery, bars and cafes, boutiques or theme restaurants.

We had our dinner at 小南国 restaurant.  The food was great though a bit expensive based on Shanghai standard.  After dinner, we took the metro back to our hotel by transiting at Nanjing West station.

If you read recent news, you should know that Starbucks has just opened its biggest cafe in the world in Shanghai on Dec 6.  The mega store, which Starbucks calls a Reserve Roastery, is only the second one of its kind after the outlet in Seattle.  Since we were at Nanjing West Road at that time, we decided to go and take a look.

From what I've read, this store is touting its first in-store augmented reality (AR) experience. Customers can position their phones in front of key features around the Roastery to get digital information on things like the various brewing methods.

The queue going into the store was ridiculous.  As such, we did not enter the store and just took some photos from the outside.  :-)

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