SWFC Observatory- 1555 ft above Shanghai

I have embraced my role as tourist here in Shanghai. I spent last weekend with a new friend from Germany, Ian Knop, walking around Shanghai checking out the city. We spent 45 Rmb ($6.5 US) to ride under the Huangpu River on a "sight seeing tour". It turned out to be a lot like the 1979 Sega game Astroids. There were lots of  blinking lights accompanied by new age space sounds. The theme was a subterranean journey through earth complete with a side trip to heaven and hell. The mistranslated English was the perfect touch. We reemerged topside on the Pudong side of the river. A short walk took us to the Shanghai World Financial Center. This monster of a building was completed in 1998 and stands as one of the tallest buildings on earth. I think it has the tallest observation deck of any building at 1555ft above sea level. From the basement we ascended to the top in an elevator in 60 seconds. That is roughly 8 meters = 26 ft per second. Amazing. Check out the amazing view. Ian took all these pictures.The haze that you see in the images in unfortunately the heavy pollution that comes from this city of 20 million.