Faster than Formula One!

William and Oliver have been studying transport this term in school.  In keeping with this theme a school trip was arranged to travel on the Maglev (a superfast magnetic levitational train) which connects Shanghai and it's major airport.  A journey which can take between half an hour and an hour by car takes seven mintues on the Maglev.  As Gao Yi keeps telling us "it is faster than Formula One".

Parents were invited along on the trip and Sam and I were both keen to go as we had not been on it before.  We went to school with Oliver and William, registered and got on the school bus to go to the station. 

William and Oliver are always very excited by trips on the school bus.  I drew the short straw of having to sit with Oliver who, in his excitement, was not much company!

We had a list of items that we had to spot along the way in return for stickers, this got quite competative at some points, with Sam running all over the place to spot things!

Once the train got going it did not take long to reach it's top speed of 431km per hour.  It was amazing travelling so fast on something held on its rails by magnetism!  Passing another train and tilting around bends was an experience!

Once at the airport we walked through the terminal continuing to spot items from our list.  We stopped in a quiet area for snacks and coffee and then headed back to the train. 

The children were then loaded in to the bus and whisked off for a picnic and games in the local park.  The boys were clearly exhausted after school, as when I suggested going for an ice cream I was told that their legs were too tired to go anywhere but home!