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September 9, 2015

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Global Tour draws to a close in New York City

Source: Shanghai Daily | September 9, 2015, Wednesday | Print Edition

EDITOR’S note:
To promote Hangzhou as a world-class tourism destination and lure more foreign visitors, the Hangzhou Tourism Commission organized Hangzhou China Global Tour 2015. Two families, one from China and the other from the US, were selected as Hangzhou ambassadors
to tour seven countries while promoting Hangzhou.

The tour started on August 1 and lasts 30 days. The global tour includes a visit to Dunhuang in northwestern China’s Gansu Province and then moves west along the Ancient Silk Road. It also includes stops on the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini, Dubrovnik in Croatia as well as Venice, Geneva, Paris, Boston and New York.

Shanghai Daily invited the Capaldi family, the US ambassadors, to write a weekly column during the trip. Today we carry their last article about their world tour.

The tour started on August 1 and lasts 30 days. The global tour includes a visit to Dunhuang in northwestern China’s Gansu Province and then moves west along the Ancient Silk Road. It also includes stops on the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini, Dubrovnik in Croatia as well as Venice, Geneva, Paris, Boston and New York.

Shanghai Daily invited the Capaldi family, the US ambassadors, to write a weekly column during the trip. Today we carry their last article about their world tour.

The Global Tour spent a wonderful, although short, time in Boston and came away with a new respect for the rich history and architecture in Hangzhou’s sister city. Driving into New York City, we appreciated how excited everyone on the tour with us was. There is no city in the world with such energy, vitality, and rhythm.

We were driven to a street corner near Harlem, where we met with two members of Trees Count! 2015, which is an all-volunteer campaign to map, count, and care for all of New York City’s street trees, to ensure a greener and healthier future for the city. We felt very proud that New York City and Hangzhou are both green cities.

We took the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan, the oldest and best way to really see the skyline, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the United Nations building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and many more iconic landmarks. We were also able to squeeze in a visit to the Chelsea Market, a brilliant example of how New York City has been able to renovate and re-purpose classic buildings (in this case the old Nabisco factory) and turn them into thriving, edgy, hip, artistic markets, as this one is.

We took our companions on their first New York subway ride, which was fun for everyone. Climbing up the subway stairs, we emerged from underground at 23rd Street, at the front of the Flatiron Building. We stood in the shadows at the base of the great building, and were thrilled to see our ice-cream truck, which was decorated with Hangzhou’s Living Poetry logo, as well as the Global Tour 2015 logo and colors. With the help of some wonderful assistants, we spent several hours giving away nearly 2,000 free servings of Longjing Green Tea ice cream especially created for the occasion.

The event gave us the opportunity to talk about Hangzhou with representatives of the media, and also with the many New Yorkers passing by. We did our best to spread word that, for American tourists especially, a visit to Hangzhou would be the vacation and experience of a lifetime.

The highlight of our trip took place at Platinum Studios, where we recorded vocal tracks for the official Global Tour theme song, which Domenick has written, called “It’s a Great Big World.” Domenick’s lyrics are especially appropriate for what everyone on the Global Tour has felt and experienced while traveling together, and so our little traveling “United Nations” quickly got into the spirit and sang along with the music.

We were a long way from Hangzhou, but when a song is sung from the heart, it can send good vibrations all around the planet. We imagined that our voices carried around the world and, just maybe, caused some gentle ripples on the water’s surface in West Lake.

It was a poignant conclusion to a profound and life-changing event. The word that best describes the Global Tour is respect. It includes the respect we gave one another, the respect given to us by the Hangzhou Tourism Commission and by the wonderful people of Hangzhou. We conclude with the lyrics of the Global Tour theme song, which will be released worldwide as a music video, in the fervent hope relations between our two countries will continue to evolve and flourish. We have much to learn from one another, much to share with one another, and much to give to one another. We also want to thank Shanghai Daily readers for following our adventures, and Xu Wenwen for making it possible. Fei chang gan xie, Hangzhou!

Hangzhou


 

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