Morning in Innsbruck brought a much different feeling. We walked around doing some sightseeing in the sunshine. No hooligans were out at that time in the morning, and we ate breakfast at “Breakfast Club”, were served omelets stuffed with alpine cheese by a cute server, and had two hot cups of coffee.

We did a lot of sightseeing and enjoyed seeing parts of the city that we missed last night. It looked comfortable and welcoming, and back in the historic center it was beautifully framed by the mountains above. The sun was catching The Golden Roof just right, making brilliant reflections and very nice photos. It was like a completely different place.

With our sightseeing complete we got another cup of coffee and a pastry at a Middle Eastern bakery. The mom made the coffees for us, and we sat outside and enjoyed the brisk early morning air. The bakery seemed family run, and even though her sons looked like gangsters on their phones the mom did a great job with the coffees and was super nice to us.

One thing I noticed around town were signs here and there saying HOTEL ROUTE -> but I’m not sure what they were for. Buses? Tour guides? Customers? The signs often had a color coded square as well, but I just couldn’t figure them out.

After two coffees we made haste back to the hotel to use the bathroom and pack up our stuff, and slowly made our way to the train station for a two train ride to Salzburg. The train came after only a few minutes of waiting, and we quickly found some good seats in first class with our suitcase above us in the overhead rack.

Once again a beautiful ride through great scenery, crisscrossing a scenic river as we went. At one point I checked my phone map and GPS and we were cutting through Germany on the way to Salzburg. This trip covered more countries than I had expected.

The train pulled into Salzburg station, which busier than I had expected. We followed the crowds out the front entrance and there were a lot of people waiting around. It was hot in the sun, but not far to our hotel, called the H+ Hotel, almost next to the station. We asked if we could checkin having arrived pretty early, and the staff was super nice and said that it would be no problem.

While we were finishing up our check in, another couple came in checked in as well. The man wanted to be sure that the extras he had paid for were ready – he had paid for early check in and also a bottle of champagne ready in their room. I guess I should have thought of that!

As we crossed the lobby we passed a Korean couple – the first Asians that we had seen on this trip in a while. Upstairs our room was nice – very spacious – and most importantly had a lot of hangers in the closet. It was time to do our mid-trip laundry.

Both of us like traveling light, and that means fewer socks and underwear in the suitcase and a little laundry in the sink. We hung everything up around the room and let them air dry while we enjoyed the city. First step, find someplace that was serving drinks.

Once again the area near the station wasn’t the best, which is pretty much the exact opposite of Japan. We walked past a few bars and gambling joints until we found a seat open in front of what looked like a friendly little cafe. We had sat down and ordered our drinks when just then two more people came over and sat down next to us, and lit up their cigarettes. That’s the bad point about cafe culture in Europe – you’re likely to get smoked out if you aren’t careful. We relocated inside and enjoyed a plush animal print sofa – with the same pattern you find worn by old ladies from Osaka.

After our drinks we struck out for the Old Town and historic areas for a little sightseeing. As we walked south we found more and more tourists, and another hot day out in the sun. Salzburg Old Town was similar to other places we have visited in terms of shopping – all the brand stores mixed in with cafes and tourist shops, most of which are housed in beautiful historic buildings. Where Salzburg was different was the dramatic cathedrals in the south part of town, with the imposing fortress on the hill behind them. The beauty of these buildings and how they were laid out was amazing. The scale of everything was just over the top, and we couldn’t stop taking pictures in a vain attempt to capture what it was like.

We knew that the next day would be Sunday, so we went into every church and cathedral on our list. We wanted to see things without the services going on in the background. After a lot of this we decided to grab some dinner, so we went to a place on my list: The Goldene Kugel. It was a traditional place where we ordered some pork neck roast with potatoes and au jus sauce. Kuniko had a unique kind of meatloaf in a tiny little tin, some pickled yellow peppers, and we had two salads – it had been a while since we could eat veggies. We washed these down with beer and wine (both delicious).

Outside the restaurant was a steady stream of tourists walking by. Some dude was disguised as a shrub along the walking path, and people watched with great amusement as he waited until an unsuspecting passerby got too close and then jumped out at them. Kuniko failed to see the humor, but everyone was really eating it up. Strangely there was a guy in a full clown outfit eating with his family at another table. The circus was really in town. Even inside where we were eating there was a strange guy at the window drinking heavily and speaking to nobody in particular. Good food but weird vibe!

We went back north a bit and visited Mozart’s house. He wasn’t home but we did buy a keychain for our collection. The shop staff looked completely empty – totally not into the whole shopkeeper thing. I hope she finds a better job someday.

Throughout town we kept seeing signs for bus tours covering the famous spots from the movie The Sound of Music. They were called Panorama Tours, I guess from the famous scene at the beginning of the movie with Julie Andrews spinning away in the mountains.

Halfway back to the hotel we stopped into a little cafe bar for more outdoor drinks. Kuniko had a Bellini Spritz (excellent!) and I had a rosé after the staff said the alcohol for cocktails was not available. The wine wasn’t bad though, and the atmosphere of the place was great.

Back at the train station we waited in a short line to make reservations for our next train trip, to Budapest. Our rail passes do not include reservations and I thought since my health wasn’t great it would be nice to be assured that we could sit down rather than have to stand up for five and half hours. The clerk we had was not a happy guy. I asked for a reservation for our train the day after tomorrow, and showed him the train number we wanted. He sold me the reservation and I paid in cash, then as we were walking away I noticed that it was for tomorrow – not the day after tomorrow. Back in line and I explained that there was a mistake and we’d like to reserve on the correct day. He said, “You told me tomorrow…” and sighed dramatically. I resisted the impulse to argue with him and just asked him to change it. He eventually did, but unfortunately we weren’t in first class anymore – he said first class was booked for that day. A part of me doubted this and thought maybe it was his form of punishment, but who cares and we got the ticket from him. Kuniko folded it in half and put it in her wallet for safekeeping, and the unpleasant task was complete.

Finally we went back to the hotel room to get some rest and watch our clothes dry out. We’ll be doing a lot more sightseeing tomorrow before the crowds wake up.

Before we left Zurich we wanted to say a final farewell to Roger so he met us in the morning for coffee at a nearby cafe. We thanked him again for all he had done for us – taking time off from work, driving us from the airport, buying us a great dinner. We talked a little about work culture in Switzerland versus Japan, and enjoyed the funky vibe of the cafe while sipping coffees.

Afterwards he walked us to a couple of places to look for luxembourgli – the Swiss version of macaroons. The shop he brought us to was a bit upscale. The shopkeeper gave us each a free sample – we had cheesecake flavor which was really good. Kuniko ended up buying a small package of 4 luxembourgli, so at that rate I don’t think the store will be very profitable. Kuniko led us to a bakery nearby that she had wanted to try yesterday, and they were selling Tirggel – a sort of honey cookie that I had wanted to try out. Roger was surprised to find it available in summer – I guess it is more of a holiday cookie. The ones we bought were in a small package labeled as “Romantik” size.

Back at the hotel we showed our room to a curious Roger, and then checked out and said our goodbyes at the station. Roger took a local train back to his home and we did some shopping at the station, picking up a cute keychain for our Christmas tree.

We caught our train out of town, but it was a little hard to find seats. Finally we found a couple of seats that seemed available – later we figured out that they are for the people who would accompany someone in a wheelchair. There was someone in a wheelchair nearby, but as they were traveling alone the seats were OK to take.

We ended up sitting next to an American guy who boarded after us. He introduced himself and he was a retired software engineer living in Plainfield, Indiana. He was traveling around Europe, heading next towards Italy – Venice, Florence and Rome. It was good to talk about his impressions of Europe and the software business in general. We exchanged contact information just in case he plans on visiting Japan in the future.

We got off at the next stop – Buchs – which is the closest Swiss town to Liechtenstein. My original idea was take an Uber there, but the application wasn’t working. There were plenty of Ubers in Zurich, but none out so far I guess. Next plan was a taxi, but none available. Finally we did what everyone else was doing and we bought two tickets on the bus. As it happened a direct bus was waiting right there, so we could get right on. Easy! We snacked on Kuniko’s luxembourgli while we waited.

The bus went right into Vaduz, and using our maps and the GPS we were able to get off at the stop right next to our destination, the wine cellars of the Prince of Liechtenstein.

We rolled into the tasting room complete with suitcase and found a very nice set up. We grabbed a seat inside the tasting room, and the friendly staff explained all about the winery and the wines made there. She pointed out right away that most of the grapes are actually grown in Austria, as the land there was originally the home of the royal family that would eventually start the country of Liechtenstein. Outside the winery was a vineyard or two of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and we could also taste wines made from those grapes.

On the whole we enjoyed the wines. Most were made in a lighter style, the sparkling wines were better than I expected and the whites a little bit better than the reds. Our tasting included six wines, and the poor staff had her hands full with four different groups of customers/tasters. When we left she asked which wine we liked best and I said I liked their Blanc de blanc sparkling wine, and she said that her father was the winemaker. He did a great job!

We took the suitcase for a seven minute walk south to the restaurant that I had picked out, called Adler. It was a bar/restaurant as part of a hotel in central Vaduz, and they had a menu of traditional foods. I had kassenspatzli (flour dumplings with lots of cheese and fried onions, with a dollop of applesauce). Kuniko had roasted salmon with veggies and a unique kind of red rice that had a firm texture. I had a local beer with my meal, Kuniko had sparkling wine, and the food was great. I guess we were hungry again because we were scraping our plates clean.

After lunch we walked around the central downtown of Vaduz, checking out the government buildings and seeing most of the country during a very short walk. It was bright and sunny so we had to be on the lookout for patches of shade to escape the heat. We saw some churches, the parliament building, the royal palace on the hill (under construction). We scored another keychain (very pricey!), and then started to try to figure out how to catch a bus back to the train station in Switzerland. Eventually we figured it out, and soon enough we were back in Buchs waiting for our train to Innsbruck.

We waited a while in the convenience store drinking water, juice and getting into those “Romantik” honey cookies. I wasn’t sure about the texture – they were firm as hell. The flavor was nice, but it felt an awful lot like chewing cardboard. Thick cardboard.

We decided to wait for the train on the platform, but when we arrived it was already there. We boarded in first class, and the cars were deserted. It was really spooky, like a zombie movie. Above the seats there was a small digital readout that said “ggf.reserviert” which according to Google meant “reservation possible”. Hmm.

We took seats anyway, and after about ten minutes another train pulled up, and pretty much every passenger of that train transferred to the one we were on. We were in the right place, and we kept our seats the rest of the way.

The next leg of the ride was just as beautiful. On both sides of the train tracks there were dramatic peaks and huge mountains, ravines, rivers and tiny villages surrounding a church. I often saw fields of corn – which was odd because we rarely saw corn on the menu during this trip. Maybe grain for the cattle? In some of the deep countryside we’d spot small cabins – too small for living but they must have served some purpose out there. I also saw more than one ladder in the forest up to a shooting blind, so hunting must be big here. There were some campgrounds that looked nice, even a waterskiing facility where the skiers held on to a handle connected to an overhead cable system. So much to see! At

Part of sitting in first class meant that staff were always asking if they could bring you anything from the restaurant car. I had a hot coffee while riding and you just need to pay anytime before you get off the train. I was feeling a sore throat coming on, so the hot liquid was an attempt to burn the engine clean. I was hoping not to catch a cold in the middle of our trip!

The train arrived a little late into Innsbruck, but since our hotel was right near the station we weren’t worried. As we rolled our suitcase towards the hotel we instantly felt a difference around us. The area was a lot dirtier than anything we’d seen so far, with lots of old guys drinking and some homeless people sitting around on the ground.

Once we reached the front desk of the hotel there was a loud group of young men who were goofing off, and so the feeling of unease grew a little bit more. The room itself was very nice – we had a room on the eighth floor with a spectacular view of the mountains overlooking Innsbruck, some of them with a slight dusting of snow on top.

When we took the elevator back down to the ground floor there was a large puddle of water in the middle – what happened here? Once outside we were headed to the historic Old Town, but to get there we had to walk through some dodgy neighborhoods. We passed a surprising amount of Middle Eastern markets and restaurants, discos, betting parlors, and bars. All the staff and customers were Middle Eastern and it seemed like they had built a community here. There were quite a few supermarkets open so we made a mental note to stop in and buy some water and supplies on the way back.

Although the neighborhoods we passed were pretty dinghy (and maybe a tiny bit scary) once we arrived at the Old Town area things looked much better. There were lots of shops and restaurants, crowds of tourists looking for dinner on a Friday night, and some sightseeing spots and beautiful architecture.

We checked out a few restaurants and settled on a traditional one called Ottoburg. We grabbed a table and although there were open tables when we arrived it soon became completely full. The place also had a lot of what seemed like regular customers – they were talking with the staff and managers like they came every day.

Kuniko ordered a sparkling wine that came in a huge glass, but strangely tasted like was watered down. My red wine was good, and then we had dinner – Kuniko ordered the “deer pan” – a dish with stewed deer meat, beets, spaetzel, and a citrus jam on a slice of orange. I had vegetarian dumplings in a butter cheese sauce, very oily! I thought it was a healthier choice but maybe not.

On one side of us a group of regulars were eating these huge sized portions – more food than we eat in two days they are consuming at once. On the other side of us a couple had brought their two dogs along on leashes, and as I watched one dog slipped its leash and made a run for it. I nodded toward the guy and he was able to catch the dog, but it was close.

I was getting a little hot and sweaty sitting there, so we decided to go rest back at the hotel. We walked back into the slightly scary area, and now that it was getting dark the vibe was even stronger. As we crossed one street some young guys in a car burned rubber and skidded out near us, putting us on edge. All the supermarkets that we had previously seen had closed up, and so we had nowhere to go but the station for shopping. The station shops were also closed – it wasn’t that late on a Friday so WTF? We ended up finding a bookshop open that was selling waters, but we had to ring the bell for the staff to come from the back room and he looked supremely pissed that we had bothered him.

Finally we made it back to the hotel and Kuniko was asking me what the hell we were even doing here. I was also starting to feel the sore throat even more, so hopefully water and sleep will help. It was a rough and spooky night in Innsbruck for us!

We woke up craving some good coffee, and since this hotel didn’t have an included breakfast we went out to the station to look for a cafe. We found one right across from the station – it was called Gourmet Cafe and it looked like they mostly serve champagne and desserts during the day but they were serving lattes to us. The staff wore suits, there was gold and brass and wood and it looked like a pretty upscale place. The coffees were great, and even came with a tiny sliver of Swiss chocolate to snack on.

On our way back to our hotel we decided we could go for one more cup of coffee so we stopped in at the hotel bar/restaurant (open 24 hrs) and had a coffee there. The hotel we were staying in was quite nice, in a renovated building that once included a movie theater. They decided to go with the movie theme at the hotel and so there was a lot of art deco design and even a free movie every night in one of the theater rooms that they preserved.

Today’s plan was all about sightseeing in and out of Zurich. The last time we had come there wasn’t much time for looking around because we happened to arrive during a huge street festival. It is an annual festival and by chance we had missed it by only two days this year – good timing! We went to the lakeside to see two big sights: Fraumunster and Grossmunster. Two elaborate cathedrals that make up the skyline of that side of Zurich.

It seemed like Chinese group tourism was making a comeback as there were more than a few groups of Chinese tourists walking around. They could have been from Taiwan – not sure – but it has been a long time since we’ve seen as many as there were before the pandemic.

Kuniko had requested getting out of town to visit St. Gallens to see an elaborate cathedral, and a historic library. We decided to get some train tickets and take a ride out of town. We were surprised at the price. Two round trip tickets cost about 110 Swiss francs – wow! It is much cheaper to travel by train in Japan, and I thought it was expensive there.

It was about an hour on a double decker train to the north. As we traveled we had a top floor view of the Swiss countryside. As we discovered last time it is like taking a train through a fairy tale. Every area is immaculately sculpted and devoid of any kind of weed or invasive vines. There are forests surrounded by green fields, a surprising amount of manufacturing and offices in clumps around the cities, and in an odd contrast some creative graffiti near the otherwise clean rail lines.

Later it was a big contrast to see the countryside of other countries – Switzerland was just at a different level.

Eventually the conductor came by the check our tickets, and we were surprised to see that he was like twelve years old. Then we noticed that he was accompanied by another staff who was monitoring his work and helping him with his job. I’m guessing it was a sort of work trial or other education program – but it caught us off guard. He did a good thought!

We arrived in St. Gallens hungry, so we stopped at the first outdoor cafe that we came to. It was outside the tourist area and more of a business lunch kind of place, but we were so hungry we didn’t care. The staff was overworked and surprisingly not so good at English, but we managed to order some food and drinks. I had a burger and fries (my first choice was sold out) and Kuniko had a club sandwich. The burger was much better than I expected – a long ways better than a McDonald’s burger.

After we paid the bill (and the tip) the waiter’s English skills suddenly improved and he commented that he had visited Japan and really enjoyed it. He seemed like a pretty happy guy, just too busy at work at the moment.

After lunch we walked through the historic part of the town with a lot more shops and restaurants, and came at last to the abbey and cathedral area. It was covering a wide space and the cathedral was quite tall and dramatic, decorated inside in a baroque style. We were kind of spoiled after the spectacular cathedral in Malta, but this was still worth the trip. We had to buy special tickets to see the library, and although they were expensive it was eventually worth seeing. We still had to pack our bags into lockers, and wear some funny slippers before we could enter.

The library was filled with as much woodwork as books and although the total size wasn’t big the room was quite impressive. We’ve been to a few libraries in our journeys (and we were to see another one in Budapest), but this was one of the better ones. The highlight was a giant globe painted to represent the earth as they knew it at the time, and it was interesting to see the mistakes and misunderstandings in how they perceived the world.

At one point a class of kids was allowed to climb the staircase and walk around the top balcony. Adults weren’t invited so it pays to be a kid sometimes.

There were more exhibits underground but we couldn’t really figure out how to get there. Another exhibit in a separate building had some important local historical significance, and the staff seemed eager for us to stay and watch a movie about it, but we felt like we had seen what we wanted to see and ducked out without watching the movie.

On the way out of town we stepped into Flying Tiger to look for anything interesting (not this time) and then caught a train back to Zurich. Since we were on our own today we tried to think about where/what to eat, but after all the heavy food we’ve been consuming we thought about just buying some wine and cheese and staying in at our hotel.

With the help of Google Sensei I found an expensive department store with a big cheese selection, so we walked directly from the train station to the underground department store for some shopping. The cheese was kept in a temperature controlled room, and the staff was nice enough to let us taste whatever we wanted. It was a huge selection of Swiss cheeses, and it was hard to limit myself. I ended up buying three types (100 g each) and the price was only 13 Swiss francs. It would have costed ten times that back in Japan.

Besides cheese we picked up a beet salad, some stuffed peppers, and a bottle of Prosecco made in Zurich (really?) and a big jug of pineapple juice. We set everything up in a sort of buffet in our hotel room, and enjoyed drinking, eating and resting. These kind of breaks from traditional western dining experiences are very refreshing.

After dinner we walked around town a little more to stretch our legs. Down by the lake we sat and spaced out – watching people fly a drone over the water, swans begging for food from people lakeside, and a boat coming in from the lake to drop off some hotel guests. Eventually we walked back towards the hotel and stopped in for a yogurt passion fruit gelato to eat on the way.

Soon after that we were hitting the hay early. Tomorrow it is time to pack up and continue the journey to our next destination.

We were up fairly early today, and went right upstairs to enjoy our last rooftop breakfast. On the third time the staff seemed to recognize us (they didn’t ask for our room number this time) and even offered to mix in some cheese/ham into our eggs. Also for the first time we saw some other guests of the hotel at breakfast – until now we were dining alone.

After breakfast we went back down to our room for a little more rest and to pack up our stuff. Before we checked out we realized that we hadn’t eaten one of Malta’s signature dishes – pastizzi. These fried pastries are filled with various things – cheese, green peas, meats, whatever. We walked down the strip and bought three different kinds, and then brought them back to the hotel. The hotel front desk staff saw the bag and asked if we had bought some pastizzi – I claimed that they were just a supplemental breakfast. We ate one of them while it was still hot – the ham & cheese one – and it was really good. We put the rest in our bag to snack on at the Malta airport.

Checking out was easy and we caught another Bolt ride, this time to the airport. We arrived in minutes – and had plenty of time to kill at the airport. Besides snacking on the pastizzi we sat around people watching, drinking lots of water, and waiting for the check in line to open up. Surprisingly it opened up while we were walking by, and we were some of the first passengers to finish. Without our suitcase we went through security, and then on to the gate area where we found a cafeteria-style restaurant that served Prosecco. Woo-hoo! I grabbed two small bottles and checked out, and asked the staff for some cups. They gave me big wine glasses instead – nice!

As we sipped our drinks in the corner the airport terminal got busier and busier. There were a lot of young people wrapping up their party time at Malta, and there were fewer and fewer seats available to rest. It pays to get there early!

Eventually we caught a bus from the boarding gate out to the airplane, which was located a surprisingly long distance away. As the bus drove we passed huge construction sites, so I expect that Malta airport will be quite different in the future.

Our flight was somewhat delayed, but finally we could get on board. As we approached our seats we were surprised to see another couple sit down in them, making the guy sitting in the aisle seat get up so they could pass by and sit down. When we arrived we pointed out that they were in the wrong seat – just one row off, and they had to get back out, causing the aisle seat guy to have to get up again. Then we squeezed past him and took our seats. I was wondering if we should have just taken the other couple’s seats, but in the end our seats had a better view out the window so I was glad we did it. Unfortunately the aisle seat guy had a pretty ripe aroma, and so we had to put up with that for the flight.

I’m not much for views from the airplane but in this case we were flying pretty low and over some dramatic terrain. We watched Malta disappear below us, and then turned north, passing the coastline of Sicily to our east. The view of the island from the plane was complete, right down to a clear view Mt. Etna on the eastern side. I had originally considered a visit to Sicily as part of this trip, but in the end thought is was a little too much for the time we had. And later we heard that Mt. Etna erupted just a few days after we had flown by – so I guess it was a good thing we missed it.

Once we got to mainland Europe we passed over some strange coastlines in France(?) and then over the snowy Alps descending into Zurich. Upon landing the passengers broke into applause, which is a custom that we don’t see very often. Where does it come from I wonder?

We quickly got our suitcase and then found Roger waiting for us right outside the gate. It was great to see him! It had been a long time since he and his friend Phillip had visited us in Japan. He hadn’t changed a bit – still positive and friendly as ever. He drove us from the airport to our hotel in his car, and as we drove he filled us in on what he has been doing lately. It was great to catch up with him.

After dropping us off at the hotel he left to park his car and come back, and we went inside to check in. In the lobby was Phillip, patiently waiting for us. It was great to see him and very kind of him to come out and meet us. He wore a smiley face t-shirt with a big mustache – very stylish.

After we checked in and dropped off our bags in our room we went back downstairs and met Phillip to go out for drinks. We walked across the river to find a riverside outdoor cafe called The Rathaus, and ordered up a few beverages. Phil told us what he has been up to – getting over an antibiotics treatment, feeling better now and recently made partner at his company!

Roger showed up a little later, bringing along a special guest – Johnny! We had met Johnny ten years ago while dining with Roger at Maya’s restaurant on Lake Zurich, and he had been kind enough to drive us back after dinner. He was little greyer but he still had the same sharp sense of humor and still flirting with all the boys in the area. He especially was paying attention to our waiter, who was admittedly pretty good looking.

We drank some wine, Kuniko ordered a cocktail called “Schlampe” which means “Bitch” in German – that was good for a few laughs and Kuniko and I will never forget the word now. Johnny had us ordering another round while he insisted that we teach him how to say “big dick” in Japanese. He promptly taught it to our cute waiter who enjoyed dropping it around at surprising times. Kuniko was a little shocked with all the vulgar talk but it was good to have fun with these guys and relax.

Being back in Zurich was great – it felt exactly the same. The temperature was much cooler than Malta, not many flies (just a few wasps), and we sat outside watching the river go by. As usual you can tell that there is a lot of money in Zurich, and it felt clean and safe. We had really enjoyed our last visit, and it was good to be back.

After our drinks we all made our way towards the restaurant that Phillip had reserved for dinner. Johnny continued on to another appointment but it was great to see him and I’m glad that it worked out that he happened to be around.

The restaurant we visited was a sort of traditional place, in an old armory building. The tables were long and shared, similar to beer halls in Munich, full of dark brown wood and high ceilings. Despite our reservation there was still a bit of a wait, and as we walked to our tables we passed customers drinking from giant beer steins. Some looked larger than 2 Liters which is a fairly big beer commitment.

Kuniko ordered a traditional dish that we hadn’t tried last time, veal in a mushroom gravy sauce served with a big rosti (potato pancake). I had creamy beef dish seasoned with a hint of curry that really knocked our socks off. Roger and Philip recommended a starter so we had a big salad that was mostly just Gruyeres cheese and sausages, with a few pieces of lettuce and a couple boiled eggs. It was huge, and thankfully everyone else helped us with it.

I had a smaller beer – a local IPA that was quite good – and Kuniko had a local red wine (Pinot Noir) that was also tasty. There was something about how they ordered wine – instead of one wine you should order by mL. So if I said “two wines” it wasn’t clear how you wanted it delivered. We’ll need to work this out in the future.

We had two different waiters, and again I was impressed how they switched between languages as necessary. Our second waiter had sharp eyebrows and a passing resemblance to Nicholas Cage. He was a pretty funny guy too.

We passed out some gifts and snacks from Japan to the guys, and continued catching up on what everyone has been doing. They recommended dessert (already we were pretty full) so we relented and shared a caramel pudding. Roger ordered a monster meringue spiked with raspberries and ice cream. We helped him with that, but it was a lot of food.

Roger and Phillip split the bill and paid for us, and since we had paid for them long, long ago at a Kobe beef place it was hard to argue with them. But maybe it was a good think because of the rapid weakness of the yen. Roger went on home after that, and Phillip gave us a quick walking tour of the area before leading us back to our hotel.

It was great to see these guys, and we said goodbye to Phillip for this trip – hopefully we’ll have a chance to see Roger again later on during our stay. Once again we went to bed with very full bellies.

Despite our full stomachs from last night we were up early and heading upstairs for the rooftop breakfast. Something about the hot eggs, coffee and fresh orange juice – there’s always room for those. I chose a honey yogurt, with an ingenious design where you could tip a connected honey container into the yogurt container – and just let it drip in. Once again the views were great at breakfast, and the rising sun’s rays were shining across the table making breakfast a bit more poignant.

Today’s mission was to get out of Valletta a little and see some other parts of Malta. First, we used Google to find a walking course to the ferry terminal on the northwest side of Valletta that had eluded us the previous day. As we approached on the road we were passed by a delivery truck that made some familiar sounds – it was a truck imported from Japan with a Japanese voice warning about turns and kanji saying that it specialized in shrimp. Kuniko said the phone number on the side was an Osaka area code – how did it end up on Malta?

We stood under a tented area and waited for the next ferry – there were just a few people in front of us. As we waited more people started to show up, but since the sun was shining and the tented area was small people kind of spread out helter skelter instead of lining up officially. When the ferry started to come in we could see that it was a pretty big one.

A couple that had arrived after us gestured that we could board first, but I said that it looked like we’re all going to be OK so please go ahead. By weird coincidence when we were getting off the ferry on the other side we ended up near the couple again, and the woman gestured to us that we could go first – she said “we’ll all get there in the end” – kind of repeating back what I said in a more profound way.

As we approached the Sliema area of Malta by ferry we had great views. The water was deep and blue and fish were darting here and there. The area of Sliema was more modern than the historical area where we came from, and facing it was Manuel Island, with a fortress commanding a view of the bay. Despite the breeze it was getting hot – serious sunburn risk! We went through a lot of sunscreen on this trip.

After getting off the ferry we did a little shopping in the area at some of our old favorite European stores: Spar and Flying Tiger. We walked along the streets in the shade until we reached Tigne Point, went to an air conditioned shopping mall for the clean restrooms, and then walked around the point snapping photos of Valletta from this side. Already there were swimmers in the ocean – they had steps in stone going down to the water and it looked like a good day for a dip.

After getting our fill of the area we caught a 20 minute ride using the Bolt application to the southeast area of the island, a fishing village called Marsaxlokk. The village has a picturesque harbor with lots of fishing boats painted with blue and rainbow colors. Out here the sun was beating down, so as we walked around enjoying the scenery it was essential to look for shade.

The restaurant that I had hoped to visit for lunch was closed that day for some reason – you can’t trust Google for restaurant opening times – but there were plenty of other places to choose from. Besides restaurants there were some open air shops selling liqueurs, breads and other little knickknacks.

Eventually we chose a restaurant with outdoor shaded dining, right next to the water. While we waited there was a family working on their boat – they all were wearing tight and minimal swimsuits, and looking forward to a day out on the water.

Lunch was a shrimp cocktail (with raw shrimp, yum!), fried fish (not really tempura but quite good), and arancini with squid ink. I had a local craft beer, and Kuniko had a coconut/mango mojito that turned out to be a little too sweet. While we ate and drank there was a constant battle to bat away the flies and wasps that showed up. This was a recurring theme throughout our visit – but it kept Kuniko busy and at least there weren’t mosquitos like we have back in Japan.

After paying the bill the manager offered us free coffee or drinks on the house if we wanted to stay a while – we didn’t take him up on the offer but it was a very nice gesture. All the staff of the restaurants were fluent in not only English, but also the local Maltese language and it seemed like they spoke Italian as well. It was impressive to watch the staff switch languages effortless between customers and somehow knowing the right language to use at the right time.

On our car ride back to our hotel area we could again check out the landscape. We passed a pretty dramatic cemetery with large gravestones, and most of the buildings were built with the same materials and so had a similar color pattern – a sandy beige that blended in with the terrain. There were vineyards here and there to provide the wine that we had tasted, but other than that not a lot of green.

Back at the hotel we found that our room had been cleaned, so we celebrated with a little wine from the hotel fridge, writing in this journal, and I ended up taking a nap. I was surprised when Kuniko woke me up – she had been awake the whole time and I had slept for several hours. Now we had about 20 minutes to get to our dinner reservations down the street. I certainly slept a lot during this trip – but I guess that is all part of being on vacation.

Our restaurant tonight was called Nenu the Artisan Baker – a sort of touristy traditional place that had come recommended online. After wiping the sleep from my eyes it was just a short walk from our hotel, and we stepped inside and walked down some transparent(!) steps over a diorama of early island life to arrive at the restaurant. We were the first customers, and I wasn’t sure if we were allowed to enter or not.

Despite the touristy feel it seemed like a good place. The staff were mainly south Asian (we saw a lot of immigrants working service jobs on this trip). We figured out the menu and the wine selections – we even had a photo of the in-flight magazine ad that promised a free glass of wine.

Dinner was quite good! We ate fried fish over pickled vegetables, rabbit ravioli that had excellent flavor and made me want to use rabbit meat in future dumpling making sessions. The gravy for the dumplings was really tasty as well – rich and savory. The main course was roasted rabbit – we picked up the pieces and ate them by hand like a roasted chicken. There was a lot of meat here – maybe one and a half rabbits, and it was tough to finish it all while nibbling around all the bones.

The restaurant felt a little like an Italian restaurant based on the decoration and music, but from what I heard there is still a lot of Italian influence on the island. We weren’t that far from Sicily actually – it made sense from a geographical point of view.

As we ate Kuniko kept up the battle against flying insects, and gradually the restaurant started to fill up with customers. Each time a new couple arrived the woman (and only the woman) would go first to the restroom – hmm… Our waiter seemed to be new, so he was getting advice from the manager, also south Asian.

It was a lot of food so we skipped dessert, and headed out to walk off the meal and watch the sunset back near the ferry dock. Walking around town after evening was nice – the sun was down so the streets were cooler, and filled with people enjoying the city and its nightlife. Near the center of the city there was a theater with an instrumental group practicing (the theater itself was empty of spectators) but the music spread through the town and had a sort of dramatic theme to it. There was plenty of live music coming from various restaurants, and nobody was wearing masks or thinking about COVID, which was nice to see.

It was a good time for photos, too. My new(er) iPhone took some pretty good pics with low light, and throughout the trip I was wondering whether to use my phone or my camera, probably frustrating Kuniko who had to wait for me to decide before moving on.

Finally we headed back to the hotel with cannon fire in the background. I guess that you can get used to just about anything – now we don’t really worry with heavy gunfire going on around us. Despite all the sleep I had earlier it was no problem to drift off once again.

After a solid 12 hours of sleep we decided that we should probably get up and take advantage of the cooler morning to do a little more sightseeing. We started off by going to the rooftop of the hotel, which had a lot of tables and a nice view of the eastern harbor of the city. The sun was rising and we were surprised to find someone else up there, recording a time-lapse video. It turned out she was another guest at the hotel, she was from New Zealand and was really nice – we bumped into her quite often during our stay at the hotel.

With her permission I ducked under the camera and took some pictures from the rooftop – taking in the harbor and a huge cruise shop docked there with sleeping tourists not yet ready to debark and explore.

We got our act together and went out ourselves to beat some of the other tourists. This time we wore proper footwear and walked down the street towards the northern coastline. We passed a church that had their door open, and we peeked in. They were preparing a church service on a Monday – interesting. We walked in an unsteady line to the coast and then followed it along towards the harbor that we had seen from the rooftop.

I took lots of photos of the ocean views and the historical buildings. We found ourselves near the lower gardens, and found a large bell structure as a memorial to past soldiers stationed there. Eventually we found our way back to the hotel, and headed up to the rooftop for breakfast.

The hotel breakfast was quite good – the staff prepared what you liked as far as eggs and coffee went, and you could take cold cuts and local cheese, yogurts (I liked the coffee flavored ones), and some fresh squeezed orange juice. We sat on the rooftop dining al fresco, enjoying the food with the view.

Our first stop after breakfast was St. John’s Co-Cathedral. We lined up outside with a few minutes to go before they opened. There weren’t too many people there yet, and when they opened up at 9 am we were one of first few through the doors. From the outside the cathedral is remarkably normal – nothing flashy and it just looked like a big rectangular stone building. Once we got inside it was completely different.

The interior was dramatically decorated – every surface was engraved with messages for and from the dead. We walked on floors made up of stone slabs colorfully decorated with messages, skulls and angels. It was one of the best cathedrals I have ever visited – just so beautiful. We covered most of the rooms, the crypt, the balcony, and again I went nuts with the photos.

Elsewhere we visited the Triton fountain, where several greenish “fish people” frolicked in a large pool that sprayed water in various directions. It must evaporate a lot of water in this heat.

By now the buses had started discharging tour groups near the southwest gate of the city center, and it was amazing how many people were coming in. Before it got out of hand we snuck in a visit to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, a scenic (but quite dry) garden of trees and fountains that looked like it would be much nicer with a bit more water.

We decided to take a break back at a cafe across from the cathedral, and engage in some relaxing in the shade and watching the world pass by. We ordered a local soft drink called Kinnie – a sort of sweet and bitter soda that I liked but was a bit too sweet for Kuniko so she switched to prosecco. I had a Cisk Excel beer – which turned out to be the low carb version of regular Cisk beer. It was a typical hot weather lager, refreshing but not very special. Since we were drinking we shared a Maltese platter – a sandwich of tuna with olives and onions, some beans and bean paste, and some French fries on the side. It was just the right amount to share.

Before falling asleep last night I had heard big noises that I had thought was furniture falling – turns out it was cannon fire. One of the island traditions is to fire off cannons periodically. I never did discover when they would go off but it seemed like it was usually when we were sleeping. Our hotel was near the cannon battery, so it was a recurring theme to hear them in the night. We tried to hear them at the stroke of noon, but for some reason we didn’t. The cannons were pretty mysterious.

After chilling out for a while we decided to do recon on a ferry ride to another part of Malta the next day, but for some reason although we could see the ferry terminal we couldn’t find the walkway to get there. We finally gave up and walked around some of the other parts of the city, and went back to our room to siesta through the peak of the hot afternoon.

We had reservations for later at a nice restaurant but found ourselves with some time to kill so we went to the MUZA art museum in the city center. The museum was focused on a theme of Malta and its residents, and it was quite interesting to walk through (and take advantage of their air conditioning). One area had works by a sculptor obsessed with motion, another area was full of violent religious scenes – some of which were fairly graphic. I enjoyed looking at the old maps of Malta, and it was interesting to find the very same street that we were staying on represented on the map hundreds of years old.

After the museum we did a bit more shopping for a cheesy keychain to hang from our Christmas tree, checked out Marks & Spensers, and received a phone call from the restaurant confirming our reservation. Eventually we made our way to the restaurant and arrived on time at Legligin for a traditional meal.

The format of the meal was a tasting course consisting of 7 courses, and we splurged for the wine pairing, ending up with quite a bit to eat and drink. The atmosphere of the restaurant was comfortable, and the staff all spoke English fairly well so we could understand what we were eating.

For posterity, here are the courses:

First, a tomato soup with basil and pine nuts (very good).

Second, we had a selection of tapas – caponata, local sausages, olives, fried eggplants, rabbit pate, and baked ricotta. (Excellent).

Third we had a seafood dish of snapper with couscous, and roasted octopus. These came with a bucket of mussels steamed in milk and white wine. (Not bad)

Fourth was a pasta – quite firm tube pasta with a tomato and cream sauce. We were starting to get full by this point, and the pasta was undercooked for our liking. (Not great)

Fifth was cute little roasted quail breasts with meal and a sour strawberry sauce. These were tasty and I think the first time I’ve had quail breast. (Yum!)

Sixth was beef simmered in mustard sauce with a side of boiled potatoes in fennel. The potatoes were a revelation for me and I really want to work this out to make at home. (Wow!)

Last was dessert – I had crème brûlée and Kuniko had tiramisu. We thought the brûlée was nice but Kuniko makes a better tiramisu on her own. (So-so…)

Each one of these courses came with a medium glass of wine – all local stuff – so we were feeling pretty good by the time we finally left. It was a lot of food and we were totally satisfied with the experience.

We needed to walk around a burn some calories so we went the the southeast side of the city to watch the cannons fire now and then. More and more people were out enjoying the nightlife, and we walked by parties just getting started while we walked through a food coma back to our hotel.

When we arrived at our hotel the room hadn’t been cleaned – maybe our timing wasn’t great since we had our siesta – so we called the hotel staff and they guided us to a special hidden cache of clean towels. Score!

The artwork in the halls of the hotel was pretty unique – lots of Japanese kanji and phrases mixed in with skulls and strange images. Kuniko was surprised to see the word アヘン – meaning “opium” in one of the paintings near the breakfast area. Pretty wild stuff.

So with that image and full bellies we went to sleep fairly early, with cannon fire for background music.

We were up at 4:30 am to get showered and ready for our big trip. We went through the usual summer routine of unplugging servers, turning off timers for the air conditioners and shrink-wrapping the top of the toilet closed to avoid evaporation and stinky pipes. We’ve got a big checklist and it helps when we’ve got foggy early-morning brains in our heads. This travel day was full of foggy brain moments – it was going to be a long journey.

We rolled our suitcase to the station and took a quick “before” selfie on the platform, and then transferred from the train to a bus at Sannomiya – the bus took us to Kansai Airport in record time. I slept through a bit of it but we still had no traffic and it felt like a blur.

Kansai Airport Terminal 1 was pretty busy. Travel is back – in a big way – and as we approached our airline check-in counter Vietnam Airlines had a very full flight. Not only full of people, but most passengers were Vietnamese families each bringing boxes and boxes of… what? Everyone had so many taped up cardboard boxes and it made getting through the check-in line a little more tricky. Along with the boxes were some misbehaving kids, and somehow the parents had to get them all through the long line of tired passengers waiting.

We finally got to the check-in counter, and I was a little worried because the flights of this trip were all purchased through a third party – using my credit from cancelled trips years earlier. I wasn’t sure I trusted the travel company – but we were in the system and everything was fine as the check-in staff input our information from the passports.

Suddenly, the staff asked me out of the blue if I have a visa for Vietnam. What!?! We are transferring through Ho Chi Minh City, not entering the country so I don’t need one, right? But now I’m second-guessing myself – did they change the rules? The staff wouldn’t ask me about it if I didn’t need it, right? Kuniko has a Japanese passport so she is fine but I needed a visa on arrival when we traveled to Vietnam last winter… did I screw up our trip right here at the beginning?

It was “Oh, shit” moment #1.

I told the staff that we were transiting, not entering the country so I didn’t think we needed a visa. And she looked back down at her computer and said, “Oh, right. You’re OK.”

It took a while for my pulse to calm down but it was a hell of a way to wake up in the morning.

After clearing security we bought a couple of small sandwiches, some snacks, and we toasted the start of our trip with a canned highball and a beer near our departure gate. That’s right – a highball at 9 am in the morning because we’re in an airport on vacation!

As we waited by the gate, Kuniko was startled to hear our names get called over the PA system – we are to report to the airline staff immediately.

Oh shit moment #2!

In a really weird moment the staff said that the two seats we were assigned do not recline so they want to change our seats to more comfortable ones elsewhere. I figured they were rearranging family members and it just worked out in our favor, I guess. What a relief!

It was a five and half hour flight to Ho Chi Minh, and we spent it watching movies, eating the not-so-bad inflight yakitori-don, and trying to stay warm under some pretty oppressive air conditioning. I was just sweating on the journey to the airport and now I’m struggling to stay under my tiny airline blanket for warmth. For the first time I saw full size sparkling wine bottles on the economy drink cart, and to my astonishment they opened one up for us to have with our lunch. On the second round I asked again and they opened up yet another bottle. Not bad, not bad!

We had spent time in Ho Chi Minh International Airport last winter and found it a pretty good place – there is a choice of restaurants, a place with a bar, and so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad spending a longer layover. The layover was for eight hours, extended to nine with a flight delay from the airline. I imagined sipping cocktails and eating noodles and relaxing – but there is a limit to how many cocktails you should consume in a nine hour period.

We got started with a couple of drinks and a plate of Char Kway Teow (I know it is Malaysian but it sounded great). The seats at the bar were the exact same ones we used in winter, and it was kind of fun to recreate the moment. We were determined to get our fill of noodles so we walked around and built up our appetite and then sat down for more noodles (braised beef pho). There was a black bean sweet miso sauce on the table that really went well with the noodles – it is my mission to find a source in Japan once I get back.

As we sat at our table in front of the big airport observation windows a huge thunderstorm rolled in, and through the rain we watched the planes come and go. Bamboo Airlines – that was a new one for us to see.

We eventually found our way back to the bar, passion fruit margaritas, fresh and fried spring rolls, and just watching people and killing time. The bar staff were walking around talking with customers, and I noticed that while they talked their coworkers were secretly taking a picture of them talking to foreigners – what was that about?

More walking around, more people watching from various benches. A young woman sat next to Kuniko and promptly fired off a smelly fart. Apparently the rules are different in the airport. Slowly getting tired – but still eating well.

Our last meal in the airport was a delicious bowl of dry noodles that were the best of the day – I’ll go straight to this shop next time we’re there. The staff at the shop were super-friendly, and everyone was smiling. How do they keep that up?

Now we were getting close to boarding time, and it was tempting to lay down on the bench seats and get a little nap – the fear was that we’d sleep through boarding and blow the whole trip for a little bit of sleep. So I stayed vertical, and we eventually got on the plane at 11 pm local time. As soon as we sat down in our seats (window and middle seats) we pretty much just crashed. I don’t remember the take off, I do remember the flight attendant trying to wake me for dinner and I sort of waved her off like she was a bothersome mosquito.

We ended up sleeping for about six hours of the twelve hour flight. Since we were blocked in by aisle seat guy who was totally asleep, I had to wake him to get by and use the toilet in the middle of his night. Sorry dude – I’ve been there and it sucks.

Kuniko got hooked on playing Bejeweled on the in-flight system, I was listening to music, and eventually breakfast was served. Me and the aisle seat guy both chose the omelet, but it was the last one so I let him have it as a sort of apology for waking him up. The noodles I got instead were cold and flavorless – I considered it my penance.

It may seem here like this is a negative experience, but actually I enjoy all this stuff. Travel by plane is not comfortable but there is a sort of comfort in the routine knowing that when you get there you will be in someplace completely new.

We deplaned onto a bus in the cold Paris morning – my clothes were more for Mediterranean summers. Despite being an hour late on departure our plane arrived on time at Charles de Gaulle Paris, which meant that we’d easily make our connecting flight to Malta. We had sort of half-fantasized about missing the Malta flight and spending the night in Paris eating well and then going on to Malta the next day, but it remained an unused back-up plan.

The airport proved to be a little tricky, however. We had to pick up our suitcase and enter the EU there, then find our terminal for the Malta flight. I asked an information staff which terminal and he told me “2G” – but after quite a bit of trouble and a bus ride to the terminal it turned out that he had said “2D”. I guess with the French accent “D” and “G” are pretty hard to distinguish, and my big mistake was not having him write it down. But in the end it was just a hiccup and we made it to the right terminal for check-in with plenty of time.

The Air Malta check-in counter was right next to Air Serbia, and both had long lines of passengers waiting. It was absolutely fascinating to see the differences in the two airlines’ passengers. Air Malta had excited people looking forward to a beach holiday on a Mediterranean island and everyone was chatting excitedly. Air Serbia’s passengers looked like they were being sent into exile. Their faces were uniformly serious and frowning, their body language looked like they were expecting the police to show up at any time.

Once we got through check-in and security we hoped for a little champagne and the God of Wine delivered – a little bistro in the center of our terminal that had champagne by the glass. Two please! We also had a salmon sandwich (meh) and some melted cheese bread (excellent) and we toasted the success of our trip so far. We were surrounded by gourmet shops – macaroons, a cheese(!) shop, meats and wines – French people take their food seriously. As we enjoyed our second round of champagne the guy next to us suddenly left, and we didn’t notice until the staff reacted later that he failed to pay for his food/drink. Wow!

Pleasantly buzzing from our champagne we found our way to the boarding gate and got on the small jet to Malta for a two and half hour flight. After the long haul, a simple two and a half hours was a piece of cake. To live just two and a half hours from Paris – ahh…

Malta had a very small airport and since we were in the Schengen zone there was no immigration so we got our suitcase and walked right out into the hot sun. It was warm here, similar to the heat of Japan but without the humidity. I used our eSIM and the Bolt application to hire a ride to our hotel – it was convenient and cheap.

Less that ten minutes later the driver dropped us off on our street, and it took a little bit before we found the entrance to our hotel. It was a little boutique hotel called Ursulino Valletta. The owner checked us in, and we took an elevator ride up one floor to our room for the next three nights. It was clean and comfortable, with air conditioning (good) and even a welcome bottle of Maltese Chardonnay in the fridge (great).

It was the afternoon here, and so we thought we’d do a little walk around before we finally collapsed into bed. We put on our flip-flops and headed out to explore a tiny bit.

Our hotel was in the center of the historic (world heritage site) city of Valletta. The buildings were unique in architecture, with wooden windowed boxes covering the balconies and slick stone streets that made stepping around in our footwear a little dangerous. Surrounded on three sides by the beautiful blue ocean it made a wonderful contrast with the color of the old buildings, and the long streets tended to slope upward and downward in the distance.

It was hot in the sun, tolerable in the shade, and fairly windy. Since the streets were so narrow you had a chance to escape the sun by staying in the shadow, depending on where the sun was in the sky. Later we’d stay inside until the sun went down a bit to make it cooler to travel. There were quite a few tourists on the street even during the hot afternoon – but I suppose if you stay in the historic city center you should be ready for tourists (like ourselves).

Nearby there was a big food hall – full of different international restaurants. We found a little place in front of the food hall that had more traditional food – and settled down at a table to catch our breath and do a little eating.

We had fried goat cheese balls, served on top of a fig paste, with a sweet cranberry sauce on the side. It was OK, but lacked something – maybe the cheese wasn’t salted? Interesting taste. Kuniko ordered a cosmopolitan, but she wasn’t too impressed. The place was OK for a start, but we’d have to seek out some better dishes in the future.

We stopped in at a gelato place that was doing good business – I had a blood orange and ginger combo with lime and basil, and Kuniko had tiramisu with hazelnuts. It was so hot the gelato started melting right away – you had to eat it fast to protect your hand and clothing.

Pretty drained we finally headed back to the hotel, appreciating the air conditioning and struggling to stay awake. Finally gave up at around 4:30 pm and went to bed. What time was it in Osaka? Who knows? The last thing I remembered before drifting off was the crashing sound of furniture tumbling down the stairwell of our hotel – I hope everyone was OK!