We got up early to beat the tourist rush and do some sightseeing nearby. We headed northwest of our hotel as the sun was rising, seeing many cats, a few homeless people, but no other tourists. Some beautiful buildings and architecture – especially the government buildings and museums. There were some interesting statues and monuments, too. One odd one looked like olives on giant toothpicks.

We had our first hotel breakfast, and it was a pretty nice one. There was freshly squeezed orange juice (the real deal), omelettes, marinated mushrooms, homemade brownies, and a cat that had come in to look for some scraps. They seem to let the cats have the run of the place. After we didn’t feed it the cat went over and sat on a chair to wait for more generous hotel guests.

When we sat down for breakfast the staff forgot to ask us about coffee but once we checked in with them they brought out two well-made cappuccinos. Yet that wasn’t enough and so afterwards we walked a few blocks to a little cafe and got two more coffees to go. On our walk back we passed a truck leaving after dropping off his cargo, and it scraped up against a sign on his way out making a huge squeal. Then the driver managed to drive over a stone roadblock preventing traffic from entering, and that caught everyone’s attention. Two old ladies appeared from out of nowhere and were shaking their fists at the driver, who had gotten out of the truck and was looking puzzled about the incident. Two police officers who happened to be right there leaning against their police car ambled over and you could tell it really wasn’t going to be a good day for the truck driver.

After a while we went back out to do some more sightseeing and get lunch. We started from the fountains and then followed the fountains that led to the Palace of Parliament, a huge Soviet era monster that really filled the horizon. From there we walked past it and behind, heading towards the dramatic Catedrala Mantuirii Neamului – a gold topped cathedral that stood tall while still under construction. It was a long walk but good exercise, and our goal was to visit the cathedral. Unfortunately it seemed like there was no access to the cathedral (because of the construction?) and so we ended up walking into another church thinking it was the correct entrance to the cathedral – but we stumbled into a funeral and it was a bit awkward. Nobody seemed to care, though, and we tried to leave as unobtrusively as possible. 

It was a long walk back to Old Town, so by the time we arrived we were ready to eat. We stopped at Caru’ cu Bere, an old traditional Romanian restaurant that makes their own beer. It seemed like their focus was on huge roasts of meat but we were thinking something smaller and got a traditional noodle soup, and a bean “casserole”. What arrived seemed a little different – a bean dip with some flatbread and a small bowl of chicken noodle soup. Even though they were not what we expected they were delicious, and we spent quite a long time relaxing outside sipping their homemade beer and drinking local wines. While sitting outside under the umbrellas some light rain started, and we were glad to be comfortable and protected – if it had started raining during our long journey to the cathedral we would have been miserable.

Thanks to a pretty cool system that connected the gaps between umbrellas we didn’t have to worry about the rain, and just ordered more drinks until it stopped. Once it stopped we went back to the hotel to take a rest. Rather than run the air conditioner it was nice to use the two big windows that  opened out over the cafe street. I was relaxing, enjoying the breeze through the room, and then it started to rain – hard. The rain came down like sheets – and the way the windows were set up we could leave the windows open and listen. It was really peaceful until suddenly our phones started beeping with alert messages from the local government – flood warnings were issued. It continued to rain hard for another hour before it finally let up.

In the afternoon we went back out to try do some more wine tastings, similar to the great experience we had in Belgrade. Thanks to the internet we found Abel’s Wine Bar near our hotel, and it turned out to be a great experience. We took a table inside (in case the rain came back), and settled in. The owner had a plan all ready to go, and we were able to try five different wines – 2 whites, a rosé, and 2 reds. The owner clearly loved wine, and helpfully explained each wine, the region and the grape it was made from. He had a slight speech impediment but he was nice enough to do all the explanations in English for us, complete with maps and charts showing us information about the Romanian wine industry.

The wines themselves were all impressive. I thought only the rosé was merely OK – the others were much better than I was expecting. We especially liked the second white wine we tasted: TĂMIOASÃ ROMNEASCÃ. It was so floral and fruity without being sweet or cloying. We noticed that after our raves about that wine that the owner sold a bottle to another couple sitting outside. It wasn’t just wine – we had a big plate of cheese and meats to munch on while we tasted. 

The couple outside enjoyed their wine while playing with their phones, two kittens played around them and it seemed like the rain was finished for the day. Inside we were treated to some background music straight out of the 90’s and 2000’s – even the Macarena made an appearance.

After the tasting we went back to our hotel for a quick break and then headed out for some more traditional Romanian food. Kuniko has a student who was working in a ballet in Romania and he had provided some recommendations for restaurants. We tried his recommended place, down an alley and under a covered area. The cement was still wet from the rain, and two cats played underfoot – not really begging but optimistic. We had three great dishes here, cabbage rolls, some meatballs, and meat pie in phyllo dough. The house wine was cheap and delicious, and it was a great experience. 

Unfortunately when the bill came the staff said “cash only”, so I had to sacrifice my 50 lei bill that I was reserving for our tour to Transylvania tomorrow. So the order of business after dinner was searching for an ATM, and after a bit of wandering around we found one that looked trustworthy. Just as the transaction was about the complete the ATM suddenly shut down, and simultaneously the ATM next to us shut down, too. The guy doing that transaction was as bummed out as we were. It took a while but we finally found one that worked. Since we were walking around we hit Carrefour Express to do a little shopping – love those little Carrefour shops.

While walking around we did some exploring, too. At one point we were trying to cut through a shopping center, going up steps and trying to find our way out. There wasn’t anyone else taking this path, and some of the hallways were empty and spooky. One hallway was lined with colored glass panels on both sides, and turning the corner we were starting to fear a psycho killer, but finally we made our way through.

Eventually we got back to the hotel, taking lots of pictures of the buildings at night on our way. Once again the lady in front of the Irish bar called out to us to come in – but this time she stopped and said, “Oh, I remember you guys…!” We all laughed and then we went on up to our room. That night we slept with the windows open to enjoy the sound of the cafes below.

All this extra sleep eventually caught up with us and we found ourselves wide awake at 3 am. Why not break into the cheese and crackers for a breakfast in bed? We killed time relaxing until the breakfast opened at 7:30 am, and then had some avocado toast and a tasty veggie wrap along with the other buffet stuff – yogurt, cold cuts, etc. We were the only ones at breakfast this morning and there was no collapsing lady drama today.

Since we were leaving Belgrade today we did a final walk around town to enjoy the cool weather and the vibes of the city. We did a loop taking in Republic Square, and some of the backstreets lined with cafes that were opening up. 

We packed up our stuff at the hotel and caught a ride back to the airport, again arranged by the hotel and probably the least stressful option. We’d heard that there are some pretty shady taxis in Belgrade, and rather than deal with that we spent some money and took the easy way out. It was an easy drive to Nikolas Tesla International Airport, and our driver this time was much quieter this time, although when he did talk he had a cool accent that reminded me of the bad guys in Bond movies. 

As we waited in line to check in at the Air Serbia desk the systems suddenly went down, and so we stood in front of our check in counter with nothing to do but wait. It took about 20 minutes, and then we were able to check our bag and get boarding passes. We were there early for our flight, but the systems going down looked like it caused some stress for people leaving soon on a flight to Malta. 

After security we walked around quite a bit to stretch our legs, had two sparkling wines at a bistro restaurant that was playing Eurobeat songs (including Rasputin). It was a lot cheaper than the Proseccos in Istanbul.

Our plane was delayed by 30 minutes, and we ended up sitting separately but since it was an easy one hour flight to Bucharest it wasn’t a big deal. Air Serbia had leased an Air Bulgaria plane for the trip, and I think it was the oldest jet I’ve ever flown in. Luckily it flew well enough to get us there safely.

So leaving Belgrade, Serbia we had a very good impression of the city. The people that we had met and talked to were all very nice and welcoming, using English was no problem and we really liked the size and quietness of the city. It is hard to take a measure of a place after only a couple of days, but we were more than satisfied with our visit.

Our plane descended smoothly into Bucharest airport, and immigration was a breeze since we were still within the Euro zone. As soon as we arrived at the luggage carousel we saw our bag so that was the quickest luggage pickup ever. We walked through the airport and found the platform for the train station, with a line of people already formed to buy tickets from a single ticket office window. Buying train tickets was not so automated here at the airport, but later we found that it is possible to buy tickets from the conductor on board – although we didn’t have any cash at that time. As the departure time was getting closer it was a little pressure to get the tickets, but in the end it was not a problem and we got on board with time to spare. As for the tickets themselves they were super cheap – just about $1 per person for the 20 minute ride into the city.

We sat across from a teenage boy who was caught up in playing music/videos from his phone at super loud volume – no headphones. He was trying to hold the empty seat next to him for more space, but a large woman pushed in and took the seat, and then started to speak loudly on her phone for most of the train ride. There was no air conditioning on board, so the sun shining through the windows made for a sweaty ride. You could tell the locals because they had brought fans to cool themselves down. I guess that’s what you get for a dollar a ticket.

As we traveled the scenery outside was pretty rural. We stopped at a few stations that seemed mostly empty, and occasionally we’d see other trains raining. We were on the newest train in Romania for sure – others seemed like they should have been retired from service a long time ago. The train staff didn’t really have uniforms – some men were bare-chested and the whole thing felt a lot different from train systems that we’d experienced in other countries. The train was running about 10 minutes longer than the schedule had said, and as we pulled into northern Bucharest the neighborhood looked old and run down like the trains passing through it. We got off at Gara de Nord station, where we could transfer to the city subway to take us the rest of the way.

But Gara de Nord station was quite different from other European train stations that we have passed through. It felt like a train station in South America or Mexico with cheesy advertisements hanging from the rafters and big analog train schedules on the walls. This was like traveling back in time, and made me wonder what the rest of Bucharest was going to be like.

At the subway station there were automated ticket machines that were a little strange – you could only buy 1 ticket at a time, but at least they accepted credit cards. There were no escalators in the station either, which seemed odd in a station that handles a lot of people passing through to/from the airport. But I carried the suitcase up and down some steps and it wasn’t really a big deal. 

Inside the subway train again there was no air conditioning but when the train ran somewhere there were some windows open and they provided air circulation, not unlike the Moscow subway. I remember that the lighting inside the train was an odd color of orange/pink, but the cars weren’t too crowded and it was easy to get a seat.

It was seven stops to our station, Piatta Unirii, and since it was a more central station we were able to find an elevator. We came out of the elevator into a park and turned to see the spectacular, beautiful Bucharest Fountains. Not just a simple fountain, it is a network of fountains in the city center that stretches across the distance. The fountains are automated and timed to be pretty dramatic – we were mesmerized. We went from feeling like we were visiting a dumpy city to feeling like we entered a sophisticated one. The scale of the fountains is hard to imagine – they were an impressive introduction to Bucharest.

From there we crossed a few streets, dragged the suitcase down a few historic cobblestone avenues, past old buildings and some beautiful churches. We found our hotel (called The Mansion) in Old Town, among rows of restaurants and cafes. We saw many cats walking around on the street – in contrast to all the dogs in Belgrade – and it looked like a pretty chill neighborhood.

We checked in at the hotel, got a welcome glass of Prosecco, and I made small talk with the staff while Kuniko tried to remember her credit card number for the security deposit. Usually she’s got it memorized, but while we were jetting between countries and finding our way it slipped through the cracks. But she had a backup credit card ready to go.

Because the hotel was housed inside an historic building, there was no elevator so I had to carry the suitcase up two flights of twisting stairs – lucky we pack light. We stayed in the “Ottoman” room – each of their rooms had themes – and ours was sort of Turkish. There were also two ottomans in the room so that covered the literal side. It was a big, comfortable room.

After dropping off our stuff we walked around the corner and in the middle of the next street was a restaurant that we had seen on YouTube called Nomad Sky Cafe. It was on the third floor – not exactly in the clouds – but it was open and we wanted to get some simple food and drinks. 

It turned out to be a slightly snobby place – sort of Instagram-focused and the prices reflected that strategy. The staff seemed like they were trying hard to look cool. But the food was good – we had a turkey schnitzel (we saw a lot of schnitzel in our first three countries) that had seeds fried into the batter – yum. We also had a smoked trout salad that hit the spot and some glass wine and a local beer for me. I was really impressed with both the wine and the beer, and was looking forward to tasting more over the next few days.

After we walked around the Old Town a bit, had some ice cream, saw lots of restaurants, and lots of cats. There were some gentleman’s clubs (which is typically a bad sign for an economy in my book) but there were so many beautiful old buildings and I was eager to take photos. The scale of the architecture here was bigger than Belgrade.

In the evening we went back out to the fountains to watch them while the sun went down. Once they lit up it was a different vibe – more Vegas than Europe – but still beautiful. With the cooler evening weather a lot of people came out – taking photos in front of the fountains and the city behind. While we sat on a bench and did some people watching a group of homeless (?) guys walked buy and tried to tell us something in another language – but they looked pretty drunk and moved right on to the next group of people so no big deal. There were security guards walking around too – they had whistles to blow if people sat on the edge of the fountains or tried to get in. 

The fountains are so big that the streets actually pass between them so you could theoretically just drive around watching the fountains and enjoy them that way. It was a nice moment to sit out there, watch birds flying overhead against the setting sun, and just chill out. Finally we started to get a little sleepy and so went back to the hotel at around 9:30. Our street of cafes had more activity in the evening, and a lady standing in front of the Irish bar tried to get us to come in for dinner – we smiled and said no thanks, but that wasn’t the last time we saw her.

We rolled out of bed around 4 am, which is a normal time for us at home but a little early for vacation. Still not sure why we got so much sleep, but as usual we should probably listen to our bodies. The first shower in 50+ hours felt very nice that morning, and then we decided to hit the road early and beat the crowds to the sightseeing spots. 

The streets were pretty empty, but we did find a bakery open and stopped there to try the burek – a flaky pastry that contains rolled up cheese and other fillings. Ours was excellent – filling and a little salty but it hit the spot. That coupled with a drinkable yogurt and we were set. Luckily we had the cash available to pay, but the staff spoke excellent English.

From there we walked to see St. Mark’s cathedral, which was just catching the morning light. The park surrounding had some nice views, and having the place to ourselves was great. Nearby we saw a government building that was being renovated, with big signs (in Chinese characters) saying that the improvements were being done in partnership with the Chinese government and Chinese companies. Interesting!

We walked through cross streets and eventually made our way to St. Sava, a beautiful Serbian orthodox cathedral that has a dramatic design. We needed to kill some time so we walked around the park, filled with owners walking their dogs (unleashed). The dogs would play with each other and beg for treats from other owners, and it seemed like there would be more fights or trouble but I guess they are peaceful dogs. 

While we walked around I ended getting another allergic reaction – itchy hives around my scalp, back and some on my legs. This is a mysterious condition that seems to happen to me every 2-3 years – still unsure of the trigger. We thought it might be food related – but there is no reproducible effect that we can figure out. The only common thing is I always get it while walking around outside. After about an hour the hives faded away, and I was fine.

We had arrived to see inside when the cathedral opened at 7, but at 7 we discovered a sign outside that said they would open at 8. Oops! Instead of waiting for another hour we decided to come back later and so we headed back towards the center of town and our hotel.

On the way some government buildings caught our eye so we took a side trip to check them out. There was a surprising monument to the bombings of Belgrade by NATO forces – they left the remains of the government buildings that had bombed as a reminder of how they were treated. Lots of signs claiming Kosovo around here, and it was an odd feeling to be there in a place that is not so friendly to the USA and NATO.

We did a little supermarket shopping on the way back, picking up some wine, yogurt, cheese and crackers. The self checkout had an English menu setting, but the credit card machine was only in Serbian so it was a bit tricky to use. Because we were buying wine the staff had to come approve, and they were all busy. Finally we got it figured out.

We had our (official) breakfast at the hotel, with a simple buffet in a large dining area making up the corner of the old building. Because it was Sunday they had a special menu and besides the buffet stuff we had some eggs (that needed a little salt) and these came with a large uncut hamburger bun. WTF? While we dined another group staying at the small hotel came in – an older woman sort of collapsed while waiting for her coffee from the machine, her partner sorted her out but it was a bit of morning drama at the hotel breakfast.

After a bathroom break in our room we decided to go out and try to find a place to do some Serbian wine tasting. We settled on Wine Passage, a small wine bar and shop that was situated in an open passageway between two large historic buildings. We talked with the guy working there and explained that we wanted to try some different local wines, and he improvised a wine tasting for us, complete with English explanations. We tried five wines, along with a big plate of cheese – there was a hair discovered in our cheese cubes but we ate around it. The best wine of the bunch for me was a Chardonnay called Babaroga – really well made.

While we sipped wine the staff was outside hanging out with his friend, we enjoyed people watching as more and more people came out to enjoy the day, and I was struck by how few bras were being worn by women walking by. The price of the tasting was very reasonable, and it was good to try a variety of wines instead of one or two glass wines in a restaurant. 

We strolled through town, bought a suitably cheesy keychain, and because of the warming weather a scoop of ice cream. They had a cookie called Plazma there, and the ice cream that contained that kind of cookie was really good! Later we tried the cookies but the ice cream was much better than the namesake cookie.

Back at the hotel I managed a short nap, we opened up the windows in our room that looked out over the main street below, and watched people walking by while we sipped more Serbian wine. The way the room was designed was like a tachinomi in Japan, you could set your glass on the counter and enjoy the view. I had expected the wine we bought at the supermarket was a sparkling wine but alas it was still – that’s how it goes when the label is in a different language. 

Later for dinner we went to the historic neighborhood called Skadorlija, full of quaint little restaurants and outdoor cafes along the cobblestone streets. We ate at a Serbian restaurant called Boem, that had an old Serbian-made tiny car parked in front. We sat near the car and I think we were included in most of the pictures that people took while passing by. The table was a little wobbly but I found a shim nearby and made the adjustments. Kuniko had veal sausages, I had a veal meat patty (quite a large one, too), and a shopska salad on the side that was really good – topped with a really mild but delicious soft white cheese. 

After dinner we walked back towards St. Sava to go inside, and were surprised by lots of people driving around waving Serbian flags, honking their horns, and celebrating something. Later the hotel staff said that Novak Djokovich had just won the gold medal, and so the celebrations and noise from that went on pretty much all night. 

St. Sava was open when we arrived, and it wasn’t packed with people, either. Despite a sign banning short sleeves and shorts they let everyone in – most of the locals were wearing shorts inside. The interior was mainly accented with gold, with quite modern images of saints and the holy trinity. It looked like they spent a lot of time and money recently to modernize the interior – it was beautiful. I had heard the basement contained some unique murals, but when we went down there it was not so different from the upstairs so I’m not sure it was worth a special visit. Throughout the cathedral were some religious “stations” where people could make a prayer – and to see people kissing each station just after the pandemic was pretty surprising. 

After enjoying the interior we walked across town back towards our hotel, with zooming cars full of celebrating Serbs and more and more waving flags. There was a lot of pride in the tennis gold medal win for the city. We took the rest of the evening in our hotel to sip some wine, write in this journal, and relax a bit. About 25,000 steps today!

Finally we were closing in on our big two week European trip, and we were both looking forward to some cooler weather. As usual, we had been working pretty hard in the run up to the trip. Friday Kuniko was working from home, and I went into the office for a half day of work. 

I walked home all sweaty and in the brutal heat of summer, and already Kuniko had cleaned the house and gotten most of the things ready for a long term absence. We did the last bit of organizing and then took our suitcase and hit the road. Just the walk to the station in the blazing summer heat was intense. Lucky I brought two hand towels to mop up the sweat.

Our timing was good getting to the airport – we caught a special rapid from Nishi Akashi, and then just got on the airport bus from Sannomiya. Once we get on the airport bus it starts to feel like we are on vacation.

We had plenty of time to kill before our 10 pm flight to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines, so we had some food at Horai 551 – lots of shumai, pork buns, and some sweet/sour pork. We walked around trying to get in some steps, visited Hotel Nikko hoping that they had a bar open but they said they don’t have a bar anymore. We went to Cafe Le Pan, which is sort of a Japanese/French hybrid place. We had a so-so egg sandwich, served with a glass of Japanese white wine. Once again I was pretty underwhelmed with Japanese wine. For the prices we were paying it was pretty insipid stuff.  

Eventually we made our way to the gate, and caught the 13 hour flight to Istanbul. Surprisingly we got a lot of sleep (in economy seats!) – we both slept about 8 hours which is more than we usually get at home. It made the flight go by so much more quickly. Around us on the plane were a lot of flying rookies – being cautioned by the cabin attendants and bouncing around and misunderstanding the purpose of the fasten seatbelt sign. In front of Kuniko a Japanese mafia member was eager to roll up his sleeves once we left Japan and show off his tattoos. He kept shifting around in his seat, causing Kuniko to mess up on her seat back flight entertainment game popping bubbles.

Next to me was a lady who put a significant amount of chemicals on her face before going to sleep – a process that took nearly an hour. But like us she slept well, and soon we were landing in Istanbul.

As we transferred from our flight to the international terminal departures we had to wait in a short line for another security check. Some people were panicking about missing their connections, and there was some pushing and cutting in line – it wasn’t organized very well. Luckily we had plenty of time.

It had been a long time since we had been back, and the airport had undergone a significant upgrade during the pandemic. They were going for a luxury vibe, and we found out the hard way after paying almost 80 euros for two glasses of Bottego Gold Prosecco. There might have been cheaper bubbles in the building but we couldn’t find them. 

At our departure gate they had some reclining chairs, mostly full of people sleeping. Kuniko got a little more sleep on one of those, while I stuck with a hard bench to try to stay awake. The sun was rising here at about 6 am.

Our flight to Belgrade was delayed about 20 minutes, and once we boarded the girl sitting at the window next to Kuniko was fidgeting quite a bit. She couldn’t stop taking pictures with her phone, making/posting videos, and moving and shifting her body. She was the opposite of a zen traveler – what was going on?

It was a short hour-long flight to Belgrade, and after deboarding we were met just after the tunnel by a group of immigration officers who requested each person’s passport. It was unusual, they just leafed through looking for something, and then let us pass. Later I theorized that they were looking for Kosovo stamps, but who knows?

After a bit of walking then we lined up at immigration, received stamps and entered the country officially. The immigration staff here seemed really arbitrary on checking some people strictly and not caring about others. Luckily we were in the group that they didn’t really care about so we got through quite soon.

On our way out we tried to change some money, but there was nobody in the money changer office, so we went out and met our driver. Since we had heard the public transport between the airport and the city center was not very reliable, Kuniko had booked a driver through the hotel to wait for us and take us into town. He was a very nice guy who advised me not to change money in the airport but instead do it in the city center. Later I found out this was bad advice – I was trying to change Japanese yen into Serbian dinar, and city money changers didn’t deal in yen. 

We got in a luxury sedan and were soon whisked out of the airport and down the highway at nearly 140 kph. We passed an overpass that had “Kosovo is Serbia” written in huge letters, a sign of the tensions that still exist between them. I didn’t really have any expectations of the countryside of Serbia but it was very clean, a lot of green fields and beautiful forests, and clean well-maintained buildings. 

The driver chatted with us a bit and eventually dropped us off at a turnout right near our hotel. We took our suitcase into a very narrow (and slightly scary) elevator that jerked upwards unsteadily. The signs outside the elevator were seriously retro – like you’d find in a 1980’s American arcade.

At our hotel the staff took our suitcase and told us we had some time before check-in, so we decided to head back out and do a little exploring of Belgrade. 

Near our hotel was the main shopping street, leading away to the north towards the historic fortress of the city. The architecture here was old European style, and it was nice to be back in Europe where these kinds of beautiful buildings are simply standard.

It was here that I learned that money changers didn’t deal in Japanese yen, and so I instead changed some leftover Euros from a previous trip into the local currency. 

We walked all the way to the big park surrounded the fortress, and since we were there walked through the fortress itself. There was an odd dinosaur park (closed) for kids in the park, a lot of military hardware on display as part of the military museum on the grounds, and plenty of dogs with their owners but without leashes. Apparently it is OK to go unleashed in parks – we saw this a lot and were a little surprised.

At the top of the fortress walls we had a nice view of the convergence of the Sava and Danube rivers, and the city beyond. From here it looked like quite a small city, and our first impression of Belgrade was that it was a quiet place. After all our busy run up to the  trip it seemed like a nice change of pace.

We looped out through the park, passing some public art on display inside, and then went to check out an interesting shopping center with unusual architecture, a sort of stacked style with an open top restaurant area on the roof. After using the facilities and checking out the market and drug store there we walked back near the center of town (next to our hotel) to have some lunch and drinks. We chose a place more on the basis of shady seats than cuisine, and had a light lunch of a pesto sandwich and grilled veggies, along with local beer and wine. We spent a leisurely time there – almost two hours – enjoying the outdoor cafe atmosphere and watching the people of the city walk by. The weather was cool and comfortable – a big difference from Kansai – and except a light sprinkle now and then it was mostly sunny.

We wandered back to the hotel and the staff was nice enough to let us check in a couple hours early. She was super-friendly and really helpful – the staff was probably the highlight of that hotel for me. 

We had big plans for the evening – visiting a restaurant that serves traditional Serbian cuisine along the Danube river, but once we settled on the bed it was all over. I set my alarm to wake us up after three hours to get ready for dinner, but when it went off we both made the same decision to say fuck it and go back to sleep. And then we slept like the dead for the next twelve hours. We had no idea we were so sleep deprived!

We had an action-packed homecoming trip to Glen Ellen this past week. We try to get to California every July, and this time things worked out so that we could also meet up with a lot of other family members together in Glen Ellen.

The full list of attendees was Mark and Susan, Charlie, Maya, Susan and Dave Underwood, Joey and Alex, Drew, Griff and Gage, Neil, and of course Kuniko and me along with our hosts Bonnie and Ray.

We took a half day off in Japan and caught a flight on Asiana airlines, through Incheon airport to get to San Francisco in the afternoon. As usual we had to wait nearly an hour for Asiana to get our bags to the carousel. And then, unfortunately we found out that one potential attendee couldn’t make it – Kinsey had some things going and couldn’t be there.

But Mom and Dad picked us up and drove us back to Glen Ellen. The first night we were pretty tired out – thankfully Mark and Susan stepped up and cooked some carnitas and beans for a Mexican food night. We spent most of the time meeting everyone and catching up, and then fighting jet lag overnight trying to get to sleep.

The next day was a lot more meeting and greeting, talking with family we hadn’t seen in a long time, and just chilling out around the house. Some people were staying at George’s place, another couple in a rental room next to George’s – full capacity!

For dinner we all went down to the London Lodge and ate (mainly) prime rib out back on their patio. It had been years since I’d eaten prime rib – it was Kuniko’s first time – and my Dad was nice enough to pick up the tab (and the Underwoods picked up the tip). There was even some live music playing in the background.

Afterwards we went back home and attended an exclusive screening of Drew’s latest film, Bloody Mary. He stretched a sheet outside and set up a projector and we could watch it on the big screen. We really enjoyed the show – it was fun to see what he has been putting his energy into.

The next day, Sunday, we were kicking around the house, doing some chores to try to fix the Chan’s sprinkler system, we headed to Benziger winery for a wine tasting with some of the group. It was the first wine tasting for Gage and Griffin – maybe for Joey as well. MJ was getting over Covid but she was wearing a mask while she poured our wines.

That night we put together a mixed grill and some salad, inspired but a quick game plan Mark came up with in the garage that morning. It worked out really well, and we cleared out a lot of space in the refrigerator(s), especially the mushrooms.

One weird thing was the discovery of a 3 liter bottle of red wine under the bed in Mark’s old bedroom. My folks thought it was mine but it must have been someone else’s. So we drank the whole thing over the next five days. Yum!

We capped off the night with a monstrous Chicken game featuring most of the members in a gigantic circle. Maya provided the in-game scores and enjoyed all the attention. She also was seriously into playing gin rummy, which was good to see. Meanwhile Charlie was enjoying the free use of her new iPhone, so everyone was keeping entertained.

The next day we went into Sonoma – Mark and family went around to some stores on the plaza (Griffin, Gage, Kuniko and myself joined them at Tiddlywinks). Gage and Griffin were puffing on candy cigarettes, and eventually we split up into a Traintown group and just walking around group.

That evening some members of the group headed back, and just Mark and family and Bonnie and Ray and Kuniko and I went to Coddingtown to do some Bath and Bodyworks shopping.

Afterwards, we drove to a Mexican food truck area where we could try some good stuff. I got excited when I thought I saw huitlacoche (a Mexican corn fungus) on the menu, but it was actually huarache (a fried masa dough in a sandal shape with meat and beans on top). But the sandal was delicious anyway. Kuniko had a birria gordita, and everyone (except us) ordered lots of sweet crepes, and dessert was a big event.

The next day (Tuesday the 16th) Mark and family packed up and flew out from Santa Rosa airport. We heard later that they had trouble with checking their bags and ended up losing most of their Bath and Bodyworks products to the TSA inspectors. Bummer!

As for Kuniko and I, we drove Dad’s pickup to meet Brian Haven at the Sonoma Plaza. We met a little too early for wine tasting so we moved to the Gourmet Taco shop for bean burritos, and then back to the plaza to visit Kamen winery and taste some of their excellent (expensive) wines. I was really impressed with their Syrah and Cabernet Franc wines, and also Kuniko really enjoyed their Sauvignon Blanc, so we brought a bottle back to share with Banzai. It was great to chat and catch up with Haven, who looked like he was doing well and enjoying life in California.

Next we continued on into Napa in Dad’s pickup to shop at Trader Joe’s, and then Whole Foods (for dinner stuff). On the drive back to Glen Ellen near 8th street in Sonoma a car behind us pulled us over and warned us that gasoline was leaking from the truck. I checked and it was a whole lot of gas leaking out. There was a risk of fire/explosions/death so we rushed to the nearest gas station which in fact didn’t do repairs – but at least they had a burger food truck to keep us busy while we waited for my Dad to come bail us out.

Once he arrived he called AAA and after dealing with their frustrating automated system we waited a bit longer for the tow truck. Luckily there were some shady tables and we ate a grilled cheese sandwich with pickles and drank sparkling water to keep cool.

Finally the tow truck came, and we drove back to Glen Ellen to meet at the service station there and leave the truck for repair later on. Afterwards the repair guy said that the seal on the gas line had just disintegrated due to old age – it was a matter of timing and bad luck for us.

Kuniko and I cooked up some Chinese food for dinner, soup, a stir fry, some fried rice, and then we watched a movie – Perfect Days – with my parents. It was a pretty good movie, and it had some famous Japanese actors who did a good job with a mysterious story.

But then on Wednesday morning Dad wasn’t feeling great and tested positive for Covid. During the day other members of our family reunion checked in with positive tests, and so that was how our big family gathering turned into a superspreader event. Oh, no!

Our top priority was to get dad on some meds fast, so Kuniko and I drove to Kaiser in Santa Rosa and brought back his medicine. Once that was set, we basically were trying to do what we could to make sure that my dad could recover and we made things accessible for Banzai around the house.

The next day was more running around – getting stuff to stock the groceries and fridges in Glen Ellen, but we did manage to get lunch at In-N-Out, and do a short wine tasting at Landmark vineyards in Kenwood. We also went to a Mexican market for tortillas and sauces, and wrapped up our shopping lists for things to bring back to Japan.

Kuniko spent lots of time in the kitchen making some soups to keep things easy for my folks, and we divided what she cooked into containers for the freezer and the fridge. By then my dad was getting lots of sleep and starting to feel a little better, so we felt like things were going to be OK after we left.

Friday was our last day in the USA – we gathered linens from George’s place, organized around the house and tried to set up things to be easier once we had left. We said our goodbyes to my folks, and then Matt Atkinson was nice enough to give us a ride to the Airporter bus stop (in front of the Santa Rosa fairgrounds).

The Airporter is now called GROOME Airport Buses, but they were having lots of problems that day. They made us switch from a cool air conditioned bus to an old spare with broken air conditioning, so it was a hot ride down to the city. But once we arrived we could sit at a bar and drink/eat while we waited for our check-in and boarding to open up.

Turns out we were lucky – there was a computer glitch running through many transportation systems, and we met a lady who had been stuck in the airport for two days. Our flights were unaffected, and once we boarded we were able to get going and go right to sleep after dinner. We slept for about 8 of the 11 hours in the flight – no problem.

Back in Japan we did a little shopping and unpacking, and then we were cooking some more to get ready for the work week. We’ve only got two weeks here before our next adventure, this time to Europe. More on that later on!