It is days like this that being able to get up early really pays off. Alarm at 4:30 am, get dressed, check out of the hotel and then on to the train station. The first train to the airport was at 6 am so we had time to relax a bit and drink some coffee at a station café. The train station was a little confusing – our train was coming in on track four but they also number the platforms – platform four has no relationship to track four. Eventually we figured it out, and it was an easy train ride. The first time of the whole trip a conductor came by and checked our tickets. We showed him the ticket but he said that we had to have it stamped by a machine – so Kuniko went with him and had it stamped. He seemed frustrated that we didn’t know about it, but if you want to check tickets why not put in ticket gates? It is weird that in Europe sometimes they check tickets and sometimes they don’t.

We arrived at Warsaw Chopin airport with some leeway, and checked in at the counter. Our tickets were on AirBaltic from Warsaw to Riga, then with only 55 minutes between flights we’d fly on AirBaltic again to Helsinki. I was a little worried about that 55 minutes – if our flight was delayed at all we might miss that flight which would mean a missed flight from Helsinki to Japan. The staff at the check-in counter just smiled and said that she was sure we’d make the flight.

With lots of time we decided to get a proper breakfast, and we ate at a French restaurant in the airport called “Paul”. It is really more of a bakery, but they served omelets and quiche as well as champagne so we were happy to eat there regardless of the early hours. That was how we spent the time waiting for our flight – enjoying quiche and champagne as the sun rose through the windows of the airport.

The flight on AirBaltic left on time, so we arrived with plenty of time in Riga airport, which we knew quite well having been through it on our way to Vilnius. Then it was another short hop to Helsinki – each flight was around 40 minutes so there wasn’t much time in the air. No problem on connections, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The last time we were in Helsinki airport two weeks ago it was quiet – almost dead. It couldn’t have been any more different this time. We checked in to our flight (self-check in and even the luggage check-in was automated) and there were a lot of people in the airport waiting in line. Security took a long time, and the hallways of the airport were full of people, especially Asian people.

We escaped from the crowds at an airport bar and had lunch – a pulled pork burger, a crayfish open-faced sandwich, and several local beers made the waiting go by easier. Then we got in line for the automated passport check. The line was out of control – stretching down the hallway and causing stress and confusion for the passengers (especially the ones who had flights leaving soon). Our flight was still three hours away and we had several beers in us so it was not stressful for us at all.

Eventually we made it through immigration, and then we were on to the gate. At self check-in we discovered that our seats were not together (since I didn’t bother to choose our seats 36 hours before the flight) and so we tried to get them closer together. A nice gentleman at the gate made some changes and we got closer, but still not next to each other. Lesson learned – I need to be more organized next time to reserve the seat locations. But this unfortunate situation improved a little when I saw my seat – it had no seat in front of it, so I could stretch my legs out and recline for most of the 9-hour trip back to Osaka.

So the flight was smooth on the way home, and we did the usual bus ride back to Sannomiya, and a taxi ride back from Nishi Akashi station to our home. The place looked good and the weather was actually pretty cool for Japanese summer – so it wasn’t so tough coming back.

Once again, we thought it turned out to be a great trip. It was a lot more relaxing, plenty of great food, and we could see six countries that we hadn’t seen before. We always have fun in Europe and this time was no exception. There were a lot of great memories, and I ended up taking around 1,700 pictures so we’ll have a pretty extensive visual record of the trip. Now to think about where to go next!

We got up at our regular time and went back to Nero Green Café a few blocks from our hotel. The previous day we had seen a beautifully made quiche in the food case and so we wanted to go back and get some. Once it arrived we realized that we had in fact bought lasagna. It was delicious, but not the breakfast egg that I was hoping for.

Since today was not a holiday, we easily found an open supermarket to do some shopping. After getting some goodies we lined up at the register, and the poor cashier tried to explain the price to me in broken English. I always anticipate these awkward situations by giving them big bills and avoiding counting our change, but cashiers in Europe like to press you for smaller bills or coins, which leads to another level of interaction in the local language that makes things even more difficult. Today’s cashier just kept repeating the same thing, “Two zlotsky, two zlotsky, two zlotsky”. It took me way too long to remember that zlotsky is the name of the Polish currency. At least she didn’t roll her eyes so much.

While shopping in various markets I came to realize that during this trip most of the beer we had seen in stores came in 500 mL glass bottles. It seemed to be the standard size, and we rarely saw cans of beer anywhere (except Helsinki). There are a lot of advantages of standardizing beer size for retail, and the lineup for local craft beers was quite impressive.

Near our hotel we saw some window washers cleaning the windows of 40-floor skyscrapers, hanging only from a rope. I imagined that it would be safer to use a platform or something, but these guys were just rappelling down the side of the building. I guess if you do it every week the scary part of it goes away.

In the center of Warsaw is the Palace of Culture and Science. It is the tallest building in Poland, and makes for a striking skyline with an art deco style. It contains museums, movie theaters, and an observation platform on the 30th floor for visitors. We lined up for the elevators just in time to be one of the first groups to go to the top. There were two elevators, each with an old lady sitting in the corner pushing the buttons – going up and down all day long. The view from the platform was pretty dramatic – it was fun to pick out all the sights that we had seen yesterday.

We made our way back to Old Town to have a drink in the market square. We chose a restaurant at random and found a table adequately shaded by umbrellas, and ordered two proseccos to sip while we people watched. However, it was less people watching and more bird watching. There were a tremendous amount of sparrows and pigeons, and the sparrows in particular were able to fly underneath and around the umbrellas and try to get bits of food from restaurant customers. One old guy a few tables down from us had ordered bread and was tearing it apart and throwing it towards the birds, who were standing on his table enjoying the feast. Restaurant staff had the unfortunate job of walking around the area scrubbing bird poop off the tables, chairs and light fixtures. Our attractive young blonde waitress was really nice to us, however, and she gave us two free shots of cherry liqueur on the house, and wrote a big “Thank You!” on the bill, so I think she was hoping for a big tip from the foreigners.

The previous day we had seen that St. Anne’s Cathedral was sponsoring concerts of Chopin’s music on the church organ and Kuniko wanted to go check it out. Unfortunately when we arrived there was a guy dressed in a historical outfit with a big white wig on his head selling tickets to enter. We had thought that since it was a church it would be free, but not in this touristy part of town. Being uncertain of the duration of the concert (and worried about the cheesy costume of the tout in front of the church) we decided that we could probably skip it and go get some bubbles instead.

And so the next stop was at “Bubbles”, a wine bar dedicated to sparkling wine of all kinds. I had researched the restaurant a long time ago in anticipation that we’d be sick of beer by the end of the two weeks. The atmosphere was a bit pretentious, the staff was entirely without a sense of humor, and the wine and food were really good. We did some comparisons between champagne, prosecco and cava, and for food we had a plate of cured beef on a bed of truffle cream, a salad of avocado and goat cheese, and a cheese plate with some really tasty Polish cheeses. It seemed like the staff expected us to order a salad, two main courses, maybe a dessert, but we instead ordered small plates and shared everything which is more our style.

On the way back towards our hotel we stopped in at a café that served a chocolate cake that Kuniko wanted to try. The cake is called “wuztka” – a layered chocolate cake that went well with a tall glass of milk that I ordered. The café was nicely decorated and had some interesting old pictures, including one of Warren Beatty for some reason. They were also running their air conditioning, and it was nice to cool down after walking. The temperature had slowly inched higher as we traveled south during this trip – Warsaw was as far south as we were going to go this time.

After a short break at our hotel we went out for our last dinner in Warsaw. Our theme the last couple of days has been dumplings, so we went to a place that specialized in pierogis (Polish dumplings). The restaurant was a chain called “Zapiecek”. We found a (slight cramped) table outside on a very busy street. The curtains of the restaurant featured dumplings embroidered into them, so we knew it was the right place. We ordered a combination plate of many kinds of dumplings – it was fun to taste each one and try to identify the filling. There was cheese, mushroom, lentil, cheesy bacon, pork and chicken, and some others we couldn’t identify. We also had a really delicious pan of meaty sauerkraut that went well with all the beer we were drinking. It was a great restaurant to finish the trip with.

Our last stop of the night was a final visit to the big Carrefour Market near our hotel. We weren’t the only ones doing last minute shopping – I had the distinct feeling that everyone was getting ready to go home soon. After a short time shopping we went back to the hotel to repack our suitcase and get everything ready for the long trip home tomorrow.

On Wednesday morning, as we were getting ready to leave the hotel room and do some sightseeing, we noticed on Google that today was a national holiday in Poland. It was called Assumption Day, but it also had something to do with the Armed Forces, as later we saw quite a few soldiers marching around town.

Our destination for the morning was into the Old Town area of Warsaw. Although we had seen plenty of Old Towns in previous countries, we had heard that the historic Old Town of Warsaw was worth a closer look. There were plenty of churches and cathedrals in the area – the Holy Cross Church (home of Chopin’s heart), St. Anne’s Church (sponsoring Chopin concerts daily at noon), and St. John’s with beautiful vaulted ceilings and stained glass. In addition to the churches, just regular buildings in the area were also colorfully decorated and eye-catching. We walked from block to block with me snapping pictures like crazy.

The market square is at the center of the Old Town, and it looked much like the ones we had seen before, although a little more compact and with a lot more pigeons and birds. This early all the restaurants were closed, but I made a mental note to come back later at least to have a drink and see it when it is more lively. Quite close to the market square is the Barbican, the red stone outer walls that still stand on the border of Old Town.

As we left the Old Town we passed a church with lots of security and reporters outside, and it turned out that the Polish president was inside for a service on the holiday. Just around the corner were squads of troops marching with flags, and police and plainclothes security were watching each corner. I put the camera away, just in case.

By this time shops were starting to open, and we stopped in at the “Nero Green Café”, one of a chain of fast food cafes around town. This one was right outside an office building next to a TGIFridays, but the key point for us was that they had an outdoor patio with umbrellas to block the sun, so we sat outside with our coffees and relaxed for a while. There was just one other couple sitting outside, speaking English to each other, but when Kuniko and I spoke English they both looked over at us and became a lot more quiet. Mysterious…

After a pit stop back at our hotel we made our way across town to Lazienki Park, a huge park filled with walking paths, streams and a big lake with a palace sitting on it. Lazienki Palace was a beautiful spot, and we arrived before most of the tourists arrived so it wasn’t so crowded. The palace architecture was similar to Versailles and Schonbrunn – but much smaller in scale. The location on the lake in the center of a huge park made it that much more attractive, and they had tourist boats floating along in slow circles around the small lake.

Once we had our fill of relaxing in the park, it was time to eat. I had heard of an interesting Food Hall nearby, so we visited Hala Koszyki for lunch. The interior was urban modern, clean and stylish, with a centrally located bar that looked like it would be fun to visit in the evening. The hall was just opening as we arrived, but the place was full of restaurants of all types. We found a place that looked good that advertised itself as a Polish Grill, so we ate there. Kuniko ordered some Polish sausage, I had a big pastrami sandwich, and we also shared some dumplings topped with caramelized onions that hit the spot. Can’t get enough of those dumplings! The restaurant also featured many local beers in the bottle, and I asked the staff to recommend two beers for us to try – they were both good but Kuniko’s milky IPA was really delicious.

After lunch we spent some time trying to find some major supermarkets to do some souvenir shopping, but everything was closed for the holiday. We ended up postponing our shopping until the next day. After some downtime at our hotel we were back out on the streets walking and looking for a wine bar. We’d had a lot of beer on this trip and we were craving wine – luckily there are a lot of wine bars in a big city like Warsaw. I chose one on the internet that looked good and we made our way to “Bar Superiore”, not far from the food hall where we ate lunch. We sat outside on the street, and had a couple glasses of prosecco to begin. Later I had a glass of Polish red wine – it was a bit expensive compared to the imported wines on their list, but I really wanted to try wine from Poland. It turned out to be quite good – they served it from a Coravin.

We ordered a mixture of five different tapas. The slightly nervous young waitress explained that we could choose any five we liked from the list, and so we picked some out that sounded good. We chose one that we had no idea about, listed in the menu as “Tunisian Brik”. It turned out to be a big fried wonton wrapped with spinach and little cheese inside.

The service at this restaurant wasn’t very professional, however, and we decided to leave after the tapas and try to find some wine somewhere else. The bill was also a little more expensive than we expected, and either they made a mistake adding up our bill or the Polish wine I ordered was a lot more expensive than the menu said. This restaurant turned out to be the only less-than great experience during the entire two-week trip.

Since we were craving wine and our hotel just happened to have a wine bar on the ground floor we decided to give it a shot. The place was called “Winestone”, and they even had outdoor dining which is a bonus on warm summer evenings. We sat outside and ordered a couple of glasses of wine and a plate of Polish cheeses. The highlight of the cheese plate was a semi-hard goat cheese – I wanted to go find it in a supermarket somewhere and sneak it home. There was also a jam on the plate that was orange and more salty than sweet – interesting!

Before returning to our hotel room, we did a little shopping at the local Carrefour Express, and there was a little drama as we walked in. One female customer was busy insulting a male customer, and in English she told him to “take your shit and get the fuck out of here”. He apparently did, because after that all was calm in Carrefour.

There were a lot of steps today – 32,000 – this is a very big city. We went to bed with plans to do our souvenir shopping and to celebrate the end of the trip with some bubbles tomorrow.

We managed to sleep in until almost eight in the morning, and took the morning nice and slow so we were ready to check-out of the hotel around 9:30. From there we walked down to the bus station with our suitcase rolling along faithfully behind us. Crossing the street meant going up and down steps, but we found at least one elevator to make things easier. The (very) public elevator was dark, smelly, and creaked as it traveled up and down – I’d hate to get stuck in there.

The previous day we had walked through the bus station and did a practice run to see how it would work to catch a bus to the airport. As it turned out, the actual process was quite easy. We had to gesture and mime our way through a conversation with the ticket office staff, but at the end of it we had two tickets and we knew where the bus was going to pull up. Once the little bus arrived, I threw our suitcase into the back and walked around to start to board. As I was walking a woman asked me a question in what I think was Russian. I just shrugged and smiled, and then another guy asked me another question in another language and I realized that they thought I was the driver. Sorry guys…

We sat a while and waited as more passengers boarded the tiny bus. A Japanese guy got on and asked me in English if it was the bus to the airport. I said it was, although I will admit that I wasn’t absolutely, positively certain of the fact. If we showed up somewhere else now it was on me.

Soon enough the bus driver came by and we started out of town. The bus drove past the Belarusian National Library and the Japanese guy tried to line up a picture from the window of the bus, but when he snapped his picture a tree had blocked the building view. Luckily he was quick enough to take another snapshot. The bus was playing radio tunes, and we heard an interesting Belarusian tune that sounded a lot like Y.M.C.A. except it was a female singer, the chorus was D.I.S.C.O., and they also mixed in a lot of heavy metal guitars. Awesome!

As we approached within a mile or two of the airport I noticed that there were a lot of private cars pulled over on the expressway, with the drivers just waiting around. It was as if they all broke down at the same time and pulled over. After thinking about it, I guessed that it was maybe the local version of Uber, and they were waiting for a summons from their smartphone to pick up people at the airport.

Once the bus dropped us off, we still had some time to kill so we went inside to a restaurant and ate more dumplings and potato pancakes, along with two beers each to celebrate the end of our stay in Belarus. Everything was going smoothly until we reached the front of the LOT Polish Airlines check-in line. The lady checked us in but said that we had to pay an extra fee for our suitcase. I had been warned when buying our plane tickets that some airlines may charge a fee, so it was not totally unexpected, but it was a wake-up call and I was glad we still had plenty of time. The lady said that we should walk down the hall to a special window, pay by credit card, and then bring the receipt back, and to go ahead and skip the long check-in line. No problem!

We found the window at the end of the hall easily enough, and there were two people in front of us already so we had to wait a bit. Lining up behind us there was a British couple that I recognized from the same line we just came from. Evidently they had the same problem we did, but they were far more stressed about it. They loudly talked over the chances of missing the flight or losing their luggage and they kept inching closer and closer into us as we stood in front of – as if that would speed up the process. I smiled at the wife and told her to take a deep breath and relax – I wanted to share a little of our travel zen feeling with her, and to a certain extent it helped. But I think they were just the kind of people that stress easily.

Anyway, we got the bag paid for and we then went through security and immigration. The immigration check on exit was pretty strict, actually – it felt more strict than when we entered. Eventually everything was worked out and we could head to the gate. The design of the airport was interesting – to get to your boarding gate you had to walk through so many duty-free shops. Not walk by the shops – you walked through the shops because there was no other way to go. It was kind of like IKEA – they want you to see everything and they leave you little choice in the matter.

Near the gate we bought some ice cream and water while we waited a bit longer, and then we were boarding the LOT Airlines flight to Warsaw. It was an easy flight, a little under an hour, but one of the flight attendants seemed a little stressed. During the drink service they offered only two choices to speed things up – Pepsi or water. The stressed flight attendant asked the lady in front of us, “Pepsi or water?” and the lady started to ask about what kinds of juice they have, and the harried attendant cut her off with a sharp, “Pepsi or water?” The lady still didn’t get it and tried to order orange juice and this time the flight attendant said it again, with a look that could have cut paper – and the words “Pepsi or water?” actually sounded more like “Are you an idiot lady?” The slightly oblivious lady finally got the hint and chose Pepsi, the attendant moved on, but it was an odd customer service moment that I won’t forget.

Landing in Warsaw meant a return to the EU zone, and immigration was really simple. We caught a train for a 20-minute ride from the airport to the center of Warsaw and emerged in the shadow of the Palace of Culture and Science – an enormous landmark building at the center of the city. Our hotel was not far from there, so we walked through a busy city square. There were so many people out and enjoying the day, especially young people. We walked past a 24-hour kebab shop, but mainly the square held art installations, trees, sidewalks and fountains.

It turned out that our hotel was just a few minutes’ walk from the Palace of Culture and Science, and we checked in to the Mercure Warsaw Centrum. I could see that Kuniko had chosen well – there was a wine bar/restaurant in the hotel called Winestone, and the room itself was clean, spacious and had a big comfortable bed. We’d be in Warsaw longer than any of the other cities, so it looked like a comfortable place to settle in. The hotel maintenance staff were repairing two of the three elevators (they kind of panicked when Kuniko peeked into one of the elevators under repair) but by the evening everything was back in order.

We took a stroll across town to visit my first choice restaurant for dinner, a place called Kameralna. It was in a really old building and everything felt historic inside. We sat outside, on a back patio, and it was easy to get a seat as we had arrived well before the usual dinner hour. The friendly, attractive blonde-haired waitress spoke great English, and we kicked off an eating marathon. It started off with pork and chicken dumplings served fried on a griddle, Kuniko had duck with apple (served with beet salad and gloriously roasted potatoes), and I ate some goulash with potato bread dumplings (with beet salad and pickled cabbage). We also had a couple of big beers – we drank one liter each, so we were stuffed by the end of it. The duck was especially good – it wasn’t just a little piece of duck but one half of a whole duck, with a crispy roasted outside and perfectly cooked inside. Yum!

Since we had eaten so much we did a little walking around the area, getting a feel for the neighborhood and seeing the shops and stores that were lining the streets. We saw a store called “T.K. Maxx” renamed from T.J. Maxx because of a copyright conflict in Europe. Most of what we saw we made little mental notes to get to it later. Warsaw is a major city and there were lots of things to see, and we had only visited one tiny corner of it.

Back towards our hotel we stopped in at a grocery store inside the train station and bought a few yogurt drinks to serve as our breakfast the next day, and then we went back to our hotel room and got ready to head to bed. We have two full days after this to enjoy this city – can’t wait!

Thanks to Google we were able to find a caf̩ that was open at 7:30 in the morning, so we walked a couple of blocks (10 minutes) and arrived just after they opened. The caf̩ was strategically placed right in front of a university, but apparently school was out because we were the only customers. The caf̩ had a nice interior Рkind of antique/historic, and a pretty young blonde-haired woman was doing homework when we came in and it turned out she worked there. We ordered our cappuccino and latte, and although the ordering was slightly more complex here we were able to successfully get our coffees and sit outside on a street patio. Some people walked by now and then and they looked surprised that people would sit outside and drink coffee in the morning.

We ordered another two coffees to go, and then went back to our room. Since Lithuania we had been carrying around a small Lithuanian “tree cake” that we had found in a supermarket, and so it was nice to open it up and make it our breakfast. I’m glad we had coffee with it – it was a little dry, but still quite delicious.

Our main mission of the day was the challenge the Minsk subway system, and to go see the architectural oddity that is the Belarusian National Library. It was more than six kilometers from our hotel and we didn’t want to spend the entire day walking, so it was off to the subway. The subway system was similar to the Cairo subway – you pay one price for a token and you use it once to go anywhere. There were no automated machines (that we could find) so we bought two tokens from a kind clerk who took my money and counted back the change to me carefully so I understood the price. The subway was really cheap, and it was fun to ride, too. There was no air conditioning – they just open the tops of the windows, so it was a little windy. People boarded the train just like they do in China, Cairo and India – not lining up but moving in a crowd towards the door. I’m always impressed how orderly they line up in Japan.

Kuniko did a great job leading us through the train system to the stop next to the library – she’s talented at navigating public transportation. When we emerged from the subway station the library wasn’t far off, and it was standing completely alone, a block or so away from some very modern apartment buildings. Also nearby was a big shopping mall, which we explored later on.

The library itself is shaped like a die from Dungeons and Dragons, and it very awkwardly Soviet in style. We took some pictures from various angles, and after a little bit of paperwork and a small payment we had the chance to walk through the bottom few floors, too. It was pretty empty of library patrons but there were plenty of librarians there working hard in a very quiet atmosphere.

The supermarket in the big shopping center nearby was huge. It reminded me of a Wal-Mart or Carrefour, with plenty to see. We spent a long time walking the aisles and wondering what everything was. The meats and wines were very reasonably priced, and the deli was full of dramatic, colorful and appetizing foods – if only we had the time (and stomach space) to try everything.

We took the subway part of the way back into town but got off and explored another area of town that we had missed before, including an obelisk square surrounded by giant metal wreaths (with another hidden wreath underground directly beneath – looking more like a monster donut), and also the Isle of Tears, which was a pretty dramatic (and depressing) monument to the Soviet soldiers from Belarus who died in Afghanistan. We also walked by an impressively Soviet KFC with a giant icon above the restaurant depicting the workers in solidarity in front of a hammer and sickle. Not the kind of artwork you usually see associated with Colonel Sanders.

We were back near our hotel and pretty tired from all the walking so we decided to go hit a sidewalk restaurant across the street called O.D.I. It was an Italian restaurant, and we were there mainly for the prosecco. The restaurant was quite stylish, but not so expensive. The staff were dressed nice enough that I was a little self-conscious about wearing our touring clothes. However, they were pretty laid back and it was fine.

Since we were sitting at one of their best tables and only ordering drinks we thought we ought to buy a little food to go with it, so we got some bruschetta with truffle sauce, and we split a beet salad with goat cheese. When the prosecco glasses came out we were a little taken aback – they were big glasses! The truffle sauce on the bruschetta made me very happy, and the salad was refreshing after all the heavy food we’ve been eating. We ordered another couple glasses of prosecco and the switch was officially on! The only down moment was when an old lady walked by the windows begging – it was the first time to see that during the whole trip. The maître d’ saw it immediately and ran over to send the lady off, but the old lady came back pleading and babbling something and headed right to Kuniko who was not so happy about being accosted in a strange country. The maître d’ did her best to chat us up and make sure we were OK after the old lady was thrown out, but it was an odd moment.

Back in our hotel we killed off some other leftovers that we had been carrying around – some salty braided cheese, and we worked on a bottle of raspberry juice. They make lots of unusual kinds of juice in Europe – I wonder when Japan will catch on.

After a short nap we made our way to our restaurant for the night – a touristy traditional place that was supposed to be famous for dumplings. We walked quite a ways to get there, and were more than a little shocked when we couldn’t find any dumplings on the menu. It turned out they only had some potato dumplings, so we ordered those with a small baked mushroom dish to go with our beers. The beers were big and they quenched our thirst after the long walk, but we were craving dumplings and we got shut out!

The place was called “Kamrhnya” but I don’t think I could recommend it. It was a bit too touristy, although the service was nice enough. We really liked one of the servers, a younger teenager who was tall, gawky and had a great sense of humor about the strange music they were playing. It sounded like Japanese rock and heavy metal, and she said it was “traditional Belarusian” while laughing.

Since we were craving “real” dumplings Kuniko found a place that was pretty popular and closer to our hotel called Vasilki. We stopped there on the way back and it was perfect. We slid into one of the last remaining sidewalk tables, and there were two entire pages of the menu dedicated to dumplings – yes! They even had Belarusian wine by the glass which I was eager to try. We ended up ordering two types of pork and chicken dumplings – one order cooked in broth and served with sour cream, and another boiled with a melted butter on top. The wine was decent but not amazing – we had a merlot and a chardonnay – and I was just surprised that they could make wine here.

It was a rare case for us to still be awake and active after dark, so we walked around town and took some pictures, sat on some benches to watch the people walking by until the streetlights came on, which turned out to be 9:15 pm. The temperatures were very comfortable here even at night, and the city felt very safe even after dark. We kept seeing young women walking the streets alone so it seemed like crime wasn’t a big problem.

Eventually we made our way back to our hotel and to bed. We planned on trying to sleep in as much as possible, since our flight to Warsaw, Poland wasn’t until the early afternoon.

Since we had an early flight out in the morning, we arranged with the hotel staff to have a taxi waiting for us when we checked out. They were also nice enough to pack a boxed breakfast for us so that we could eat while we waited at the airport. We didn’t have a chance to go back to the basement kitchen buffet, but in the elevator down to the lobby there was a sign saying that they had experienced flooding the night before so we wouldn’t have been able to go there anyway. It was some serious rain the previous night!

Our taxi took us to the airport in just a few minutes, and we set up on some seats in the departures area and ate our breakfast – yogurt, sandwiches, an apple and a pear, a yogurt covered granola bar, and a big bottle of water. We were flying on Belavia airlines, the Belarusian national airline, and we checked in without a problem and passed easily through security. On the other side we waited patiently for our boarding call while sipping coffee and munching on the hotel sandwiches.

We boarded a few minutes late, and I was surprised to see that we boarded a small jet for a 25 minute flight – I was expecting another propeller craft. Across the aisle from us an older Japanese guy and his Belarusian wife were talking to each other in Japanese – Kuniko thought that the wife was probably a hostess in Japan and met the guy through work. I thought it was cool that the old guy was visiting the old country with his wife.

We happened to be sitting in the emergency exit row, so the cabin attendant came by and asked us in English to read the safety card. She asked Kuniko in English if Kuniko spoke Russian, which was a weird question, but when she said “no” it didn’t seem to matter. The flight was quick – up and down again – but they still managed a drink service and distributed little hard candies that had a sour berry flavor I couldn’t quite pin down.

We hadn’t really planned on visiting Belarus on this trip – getting a visa is usually a pain, but we had noticed that from 2017 they changed their visa policy to allow visa-on-arrival for visitors who arrive at Minsk National Airport only. If you want to visit by car or train you need to go through a lot of hoops at the Belarusian embassy, but since we were flying into the country to Minsk Airport it was a much easier process. Once we landed we walked down the ladder and boarded a bus. Unlike other airports, at Minsk we had a police escort. Then the bus took us to the arrivals terminal where we purchased insurance from a Belarusian insurer (just a couple of euros a day, payable by credit card). We confirmed that there were no other steps with a very handsome young military officer, and he said we were good to go. We waited in line for immigration, and then we were through. Our immigration officer was a pretty young woman with some kind of muscular disease. She had uncontrollable twitches in her neck and body, but despite this she did her job well. I thought that an immigration inspector would be the perfect job for somebody with that condition – everybody is on their best behavior while standing in front of an immigration inspector who can have you deported with a push of a button.

We went outside to try to catch the bus to the city center, but unfortunately we missed it by 7 minutes. Kuniko had heard the taxi drivers were notorious around here, and they aggressively tried to get us into their taxis so I guess it is true. But after dealing with the touts in Cairo and Luxor, these guys were a piece of cake. We declined their offers and went back inside to a lounge to kill time waiting for the next bus. After a beer or so we were able to catch the next bus. We bought our ticket with a credit card from a kiosk which was an easy enough process, but most Belarusians preferred to come up and haggle with the driver, negotiating this and that and getting into long discussions. Not an organized system.

It was a long ride into town, about 45 minutes, and during the ride there was a lot to see. For one, there were a lot of casino signs, which I didn’t expect. There were some actual tanks lined up outside the airport, and once we got closer to the city some soldiers were in a field doing drills. Most of what we saw were wide green pastures under clear blue sky, and forests of aspen trees. We sat directly behind the driver and while he drove he was on the phone continuously – I got the impression that he had a side business he was running from his bus driver seat.

Once we arrived at the station, it was about a fifteen minute walk to our hotel, the Hotel Minsk. It was an old hotel that was a little past its prime, but there were touches of elegance here and there. It seemed like there were a lot of Middle Eastern guests – one guy we bumped into said he was from Iraq – and the staff were not friendly at all. We got that vibe a lot from the people of Belarus, which was similar to our experiences in Russia. Not a lot of big smiles from people here.

After checking in we rode up a slightly scary elevator that barely made it to our floor, and then walked by a flat screen TV imbedded into a picture frame playing advertisements for the hotel casino, “Casino Royal”. Our room was nice enough – although the Wi-Fi was really hard to get set up. After dropping off our bag and cleaning up a little, we went back to the scary elevator to leave the hotel and look around.

While waiting for the elevator a Middle Eastern lady in a burqa came up to us and asked us something in a language we didn’t understand, pointing to her phone. We tried to tell her to go check with the front counter, but everyone was mystified in this conversation and I’m not sure anything was resolved. Strange place!

So looking at my map I thought we could do a loop around town as a quick survey, and then later the next day go and see the sights in more detail. As it turned out, Minsk was a much bigger city than I had imagined. The scale of everything was huge – streets that were eight lanes wide, sidewalks wide enough for a football team to walk shoulder to shoulder – it reminded me a lot of our visit to Moscow. Each block was really long – so we ended up walking a lot! Just like in Moscow to cross the street you have to find the underground walkways, and the walkways often had shops and bakeries underneath to do some shopping. Minsk was also much cleaner than I expected – similar to Japan. There was no litter on the streets and I don’t remember seeing any graffiti either.

What I had expected to be a quick loop turned out to be a long walk, but we were happy to stretch our legs and get some steps in. The city itself was pretty quiet, with few people walking the broad sidewalks. We stopped at the Opera House and watched a funny family yelling at each other while trying to take a perfect picture in front of the fountain. The parks in the area were extensive and beautiful – a great place to relax and unwind. There was a river running through the city, and occasionally we saw people using paddle boats shaped like cars going up and down the river. Also along the river were a lot of restaurants that looked like they were newly constructed. We tried to find one to take a little break, but a lot of them were closed. I wasn’t sure if they were closed because they were out of business, or if it was too early, or if they weren’t actually in business yet. Finally we found a place that looked open with an upstairs terrace overlooking the river. It was a restaurant that was attached to a casino, and they played Euro beat music in the background while a few guests poked at some food at their table. We got ready to try to speak Belarusian for the first time, but our waitress spoke English (a little) and she took our order for two Belarusian beers. She didn’t look happy to have to deal with us, but again, this is what you get when you travel in the former Soviet Union.

We sipped our beers and enjoyed the beautiful cool weather and nice views across the river and to the park and city beyond. It was nice just to relax – we had walked almost 15,000 steps already and it was not even dinner time yet. After a while more customers drifted by, one group was about fifteen Middle Easterners and I wondered why we were seeing so many of them in this city.

The feel we had for Minsk was that it was really just starting to open itself to foreign tourism, and it wasn’t quite ready for prime time. All the elements were there, but it was not a polished experience like you would get in other European cities. I think it was because of this, because of these rough edges, that I enjoyed my time here. We had a lot of luxuries traveling in the previous four countries, one of which is that everyone spoke English really well. Here we had to think a little more, be ready with gestures, and expect surprises. That’s what makes trips fun for us.

We made our way back towards our hotel and walked through several big Soviet-style military parade squares. We walked past huge gothic buildings standing next to buildings with Parthenon-esque pillars and finally made it to our first choice restaurant – Kuchmistr. There isn’t quite as much current information about Minsk’s restaurants available on the internet in English, so it took a lot of research to find places that might be good and at least a little traditional. On top of that my GPS offline map had only Cyrillic letters so searching for things was hit-and-miss. But our restaurant that night was really good.

Kuchmistr is on the corner of a big block surrounded by government buildings and across from a monument with a World War II tank climbing an incline. There was nice outdoor dining and we sat outside drinking cold beers and enjoyed the weather while waiting for our meal. The background music of the restaurant was strange pop/folk/heavy metal which added an element of silliness to the meal. The restaurant staff spoke pretty good English, and they had an English menu, so no problem ordering, and we were pleased with the food we had. We ordered and shared some potato pancakes topped with sautéed bacon and onions, pork dumplings baked into a bowl covered with cheese and lots of dill, and also several thin savory pancakes served with roast pork and sausage bathed in creamy gravy. It was a very “meat and potatoes” kind of meal so we were stuffed afterwards. We had room enough for a shot of horseradish vodka at the end. The staff asked if we wanted vodka with horseradish or if we wanted horseradish vodka, and slightly confused we said “the first one” and whatever it was that we got was really good. We were completely satisfied.

While we were eating we noticed a Japanese group of businesspeople wearing suits arrive by private car. There was kind of an entourage of staff as well, and later our server said in broken English that it was actually the Japanese ambassador to Belarus eating there that night. We thought it best not to interrupt his meal, but it was an interesting coincidence.

Our last stop for the night was at an underground shopping center next to our hotel. Thanks to our visit to Moscow, we could understand that anytime you see big domes of glass in a city square that means that there’s a shopping center underneath. We found our way there and discovered a supermarket that was fun to explore. My favorite thing to see was a freezer section with big open containers of different varieties of frozen dumplings and a big scoop so you can take what you need. Plenty of interesting snacks as well, and the vodka was cheaper than the soda, just like in Russia.

We bought a few things and went through the check-out line. The cashier told us the total in Belarusian, and since we had no reaction she actually rolled her eyes in a 360 degree circle and made a big sigh, and then pointed out the total on her machine. We were all smiles and laughter and passing over bills and I think maybe we pushed her over the edge into total hopelessness. In fact, I believe that we were present right at the exact moment when her job actually destroyed her soul. I had never seen an unhappier person in retail until I shopped at an underground supermarket in Belarus.

Back at the hotel we unpacked our shopping goodies and then decided to call it a day – we ended at 22,000 steps and with the size of this city we were expecting a lot more the next day.

Breakfast was also included at the Artagonist Hotel, and judging from the décor of our room and the lobby I was really looking forward to seeing what the breakfast buffet was like. We took the elevator to the basement level, and then walked through a cave-like entrance painted white and found a bar, some tables and a big buffet spread waiting for us. The staff working the counter looked bored and kept checking her smartphone, but we had fresh squeezed OJ in a carafe at every table, some excellent bacon and eggs, and plenty of other goodies. The real treasures were a charcuterie plate with homemade salami and a cheese plate with several different Lithuanian cheeses. The coffee came from a much nicer machine and we really enjoyed breakfast there. Sadly, we couldn’t come back the next day for reasons that I’ll explain later.

Outside the weather was a little cloudy, and we packed our little umbrella just in case. We spent the morning walking around the streets checking out the Old Town in more detail. The layout of the town was a long rectangle rather than a square, and our hotel was basically at the lower midpoint of the rectangle, with the Gate of Dawn at the top and the clock tower and cathedral at the bottom. We went up and down this rectangle many times, and got to know it well. Just outside of Old Town Kuniko had located a market which was worth a walk through. Unlike the other markets that we’ve visited on this trip, this one had no seafood as Vilnius is far from the ocean. They made up for that in the meat section with an impressive display, and an old woman urged me in Lithuanian to buy half a hog that she had displayed. There was a stylish bakery and even some bars (that weren’t open yet). The market had lots of local people selling goods – especially clothes, and I think tourists were not the target customers here.

From here we walked to Uzpis, the artsy counter-cultural part of town. It was actually declared (half-jokingly) as an independent republic by the residents, and they prominently display their constitution written on plaques in ten languages on a wall of the neighborhood.  At the time we were there it was pretty early, and most Uzpisians were busy sleeping. Now and then a drop or two of rain would fall, but we were generally lucky to avoid any big weather events.

Back in Old Town we walked through the Vilnius University, which reminded me vaguely of Hogwarts from Harry Potter. A big crowd of Chinese tourists were trying to get in but turned back when they saw that an admission fee was required. We paid the fee and I’m glad we did – otherwise we would have missed the impressive University Cathedral. The interior was one of the most elaborate and striking of all the cathedrals of this trip – and we ended up seeing at least twenty by the end of the journey.

By now it was getting close to opening time for the highly recommended potato dumpling restaurant, called Leiciai. The restaurant was actually a brewery, so while we waited for our potato dumplings we could try their homemade beers. We sat outside despite the threat of rain, with other customers joining us at various tables on the outdoor patio. The potato dumplings ended up taking about 50 minutes to arrive, so we went through 5 beers between us while we waited. I liked the beers generally – we even tried their cannabis beer that is infused with cannabis oil. Lots of unusual food and drink on this trip.

When the potato dumplings finally made it to our table our appetite was at a peak, so we ate them rather quickly. They were very good Рa steamy browned potato wrapper stuffed with meat, accompanied with sour cream and topped with saut̩ed bacon. Salty, creamy, and good with beer! I really liked them, but they were a bit on the heavy side.

A kind of funny situation happened while we were at this restaurant waiting for our meal. While we sipped beer I noticed that the staff walked up to the table near us and asked them not to smoke. I hadn’t noticed them smoking because smoking is pretty common in Europe, especially outside, but right above their table was a little sign that had the symbol for “no smoking”. As I was taking in the scene and noticing the sign the guilty smoker got up and followed the staff past our table, I guess to go to the smoking area. As the smoker walked past us he apologized to us for smoking (in English), and I realized that he thought that we had complained to the staff. His companions looked over at us when the smoker apologized, and suddenly we were the bad guys in this situation. It really wasn’t a big deal but it was interesting to see that it is possible to get yourself in trouble even if you don’t even open your mouth.

We headed back to the hotel and proceeded to do our halfway-point laundry. We travel light and one of the drawbacks to that is that we have to do a little laundry on our own midway through a long trip. I washed my socks and some underwear in the stylish sink, and then we hung things out to dry all over the room. It is oddly relaxing to do chores like this in the middle of a vacation – kind of a taste of home, in a way.

After a short nap we were back out to look around town. In the afternoon we noticed that there were a lot of brides and grooms walking around town getting their pictures taken. At first we noticed one or two couples, but then more and more started showing up. In each of the cathedrals that we visited that day we saw couples getting married. Outside the cathedral the wedding party was always waiting – 3-4 stylish cars, friends all dressed up and some finger food and bubbles were all prepared. I think that day we saw around 10-15 couples getting married or celebrating their marriage. Was there some kind of significance to Saturday, August 11th in Lithuania?

We made a long walk to see just one more cathedral (St. Peter and St. Paul’s Cathedral) a little outside of the main part of town. It was getting hit hard by tour buses and we realized it was a popular destination. Inside there was (of course) a wedding going on, but also it was built in a more gothic style. There was a statue of skeleton behind us too – a little spooky! After that we walked the long way around back to Uzpis which was a bit more lively the second time around. I had heard that since they were an “independent republic” they would stamp your passports, but we couldn’t figure out where to go to have them do it. Oh well!

By now the clouds were getting a little thicker and there was a distinct humidity in the air. We started worrying more about rain and decided to head for a wine bar to wait out the weather until our dinner reservation came up. We stopped at “In Vino” near the Gate of Dawn. It looked closed from the outside, but when we came in the door the staff who had gathered around the bar talking sprang up and tried to look busy. We had a couple of glasses of wine while relaxing, and soon the staff realized we were no threat and went back to lounging and joking around. The waiters and waitresses got along really well with each other and it seemed like everyone was friendly, so it was a nice vibe in there. They played old 80’s American pop from my high school days, and outside the rain started to fall in a big way.

We waited for a break in the rain but it became apparent that it wasn’t going to come. Finally, we got out our pitifully small umbrella and decided to share it as we walked the ten minutes or so to the restaurant. Sharing the umbrella worked for a little while, but the volume of rain suddenly increased dramatically. There were streams of water in the streets rapidly becoming rivers and by the time we got to our hotel we thought it would be a good idea to change into dry clothes before reaching the restaurant.

In the lobby of our hotel a large group of people were waiting for the rain to stop, and they were still there a few minutes later when we walked back out in dry clothes. It was just a few minutes to the restaurant from there, but in that few minutes the rain changed from “very heavy” to “ridiculous”. The drain spouts on the sides of the buildings couldn’t keep up and water started spraying out the seams of the pipes like some kind of weird fountains. We walked below these fountains and hopped over floods and by the time we reached our restaurant, Mykolo 4, we were completely soaked again.

Although the torrents outside were dramatic, things inside our restaurant were calm and serene. I think a lot of people cancelled their reservations – there was just two or three other tables occupied, including a couple of surprisingly loud Japanese ladies. Kuniko tried to use her table napkins and even the candle to dry herself off, but we resigned ourselves to eating our dinner while wet. The staff didn’t seem to mind our moist appearance, and the (once again) attractive blonde staff took our order in English very gracefully.

Dinner was impressive – our salad was black quinoa with carrots of different colors (some soaked in beet juice to turn almost black?) and almond cream, we also had some beetroot soup with dumplings to warm up. The chef sent out some duck confit with apples to spread on some dark bread, and then it was on to the main courses. Kuniko had buckwheat pancakes with pickled red cabbage and the cut-off top of a camembert cheese, and I had beef stuffed with wild mushrooms and a soft-boiled quail egg with a generous slab of unsalted halloumi cheese on top. For dessert we asked for a platter of Lithuanian cheeses (we do love cheese), and they came with pickled sweet onions, fruits and nuts. We also had some good wines here by the glass – especially a Langdouc red. It was a great dinner and by the time we finished the meal the rain had slowed but not stopped.

We made a break for the hotel, but Kuniko was craving a glass of something stronger before bed. We tried a little convenience store nearby but they were packed with people and they didn’t have any small bottles. Disappointed, we went back to the hotel and took off our clothes, took a steaming hot shower, and then used the big fluffy bathrobes the rest of the night. Outside the rain was starting up again, so we ended up raiding the hotel minibar for a couple of little Jack Daniel’s bottles and also the little mini bottle of red wine.

It was a nice romantic way to end a wet and wild day in Vilnius. Tomorrow we’re off to see a completely different sort of city: Minsk, Belarus.

We woke up in the morning a bit later than usual but with no sign of hangover – and we were ready to head downstairs and eat breakfast by 7:30 am. This time there were fewer people at the breakfast buffet and we could take our time and enjoy the meal. After breakfast we went back up to the room to get ready to ship out for Lithuania.

We arranged a taxi with the hotel, and then took the long drive to Riga airport. It was pretty far outside of town, but not as far as Kansai Airport is from Kobe. We had a smooth check-in and then plenty of time to wait for our flight at the gate. We were really impressed with Riga airport – it had many stylish bars and restaurants, good shopping and plenty of seats – very comfortable. We took a couple of seats and laid out a little mini-picnic with a local sheep’s milk cheese and an apple (leftovers from the hotel picnic yesterday) and also some fruit juices that we bought from a vendor at the airport.

Eventually it was time to board the plane. We were flying with AirBaltic, on a small propeller-driven airplane carrying only about 50 people. The plane left a little late, but once we took off they were able to save some time. It was just a 50 minute flight to Vilnius, Lithuania, and despite some turbulence as we landed it was a relatively uneventful flight. Propeller flights really make you remember what flying is all about!

Vilnius airport was very small built in an art deco style. Our suitcase was sitting on the carousel waiting for us when we deplaned, and it was a short walk outside the airport and along the sidewalk to an elevator, which took us down to a train station. The train into town was pretty cool, actually. The train ran every 30-40 minutes, and it cost less than a euro per person which was much less than a taxi would cost. The train ride was only 10 minutes, and it dropped us off at the central train station. From there Kuniko guided us along the outskirts of the central city, passing a couple of (gypsy?) women having a shouting match, and through the Gates of Dawn – a religious landmark containing a lot of gold-inlaid holy relics. Once you pass through the gate into the city you can turn back and see that above the gate is a beautiful gold and blue icon of the Lady of the Dawn overlooking the street.

Now we were inside the walls and within the Old Town of Vilnius. If you’ve been keeping track you know that this was the third Old Town we’ve visited, all UNESCO World Heritage sites. So we were getting to be kind of connoisseurs in a way. This Old Town had a different feel to it – kind of like an ancient version of Beverly Hills. The shops here were more upscale, the fountains and buildings a little more dramatic, and it felt like everything was going to be more expensive. As it turned out this city was actually the least expensive of all the cities on this trip.

We didn’t spend much time gawking since we were trying to get to our hotel, and after another ten minutes or so of walking we found it. It was called the Artagonist Hotel, and it was very artistic and offbeat. The check-in lobby is in an open air room with a ceiling three stories up. On the wall behind check-in is a giant mural of the hotel mascot, The Artagonist himself, in a cheeky pose and looking cool. Our room was really nice – Kuniko said she splurged a little here – with two sinks in the bathroom, a king sized bed, a cupola with views of the main street below, a strangely prescient mural on the wall over the bed, and some candies waiting for us on the bed cover.

Since the weather was nice we decided to hike to the northeast part of the city to see the Three Crosses, which is a viewpoint and landmark in the forest above the city. The walk was past the historic cathedral square and clock tower, and then up a pathway through the forest. It was easy to follow the path using my GPS and soon we had a great view of the city. The Three Crosses were very dramatic on their own and it was nice to stand up there for a while and enjoy the view. Some schoolkids were also hanging around the area along with the tourists, and just as we were leaving a tour bus full of Japanese people pulled up and so we left right on time.

With such beautiful weather we did a little more sightseeing – the three creepy muses at the National Theater, the slightly leaning clock tower and the adjacent cathedral undergoing renovation. We took a break for a round of prosecco and a round of beer sitting outside under the trees at a small restaurant. It was a quiet moment to relax and watch the city move around us. Once again we had a very attractive waitress who spoke excellent English. We asked when they learn English in Lithuania, and she replied that it starts from the fourth year of elementary school.  When not serving us the waitress spent time talking with two older women who seemed to be regular customers.

We made a reservation at our first choice restaurant for the next day, and then continued wandering the streets of the city. The weather was perfect for walking and taking pictures. One highlight was the beautiful red brick St. Anne’s cathedral – it had an interesting feel to it both inside and out.

For dinner we had an early meal at a traditional place called Loky’s. We sat outside on a patio with trees overhead and a historic house behind us. I started with a glass of mead, and then Kuniko and I both had Lithuanian bottled beers, and they were damn good. The waiter (also very good looking) gave us a running commentary on the food and beer and did everything he could to make us comfortable – great service! We had a lentil salad to start with, and then I had a nice big venison roast while Kuniko ordered beaver stew in a mashed potato bowl. Very rustic, very unusual, and very delicious. Sitting out on the patio, enjoying a quiet meal in beautiful weather with the woman I love – I was having one of those moments you always remember. You never know when the moment will strike and everything comes together – and you have the sense to realize it – but for me it was happening right then and I didn’t want it to end.

As we were leaving we asked the waiter to recommend a restaurant that made good potato dumplings, which are the area’s must-try dish, and he recommended a place right next door. We marked it on our map and made a plan to visit for lunch the next day.

We stopped for one more drink at an outdoor bar placed between two cobblestone streets. It was fun to people watch and try to guess what everyone around us was talking about, but we were getting tired by that point. Our weather application said that rain was likely the next day, so we thought we should get some rest and be ready for anything tomorrow.

Up again at 6 am we focused on going out and doing some sightseeing of things we might have missed during our arbitrary stroll through the Old Town the previous evening. The town was almost empty and so we could take some great pictures as the sun rose. Kuniko led us around the other side of St. Peter’s cathedral to find a statue depicting several animals standing on each other’s backs – the Town Musicians of Bremen. From there I led the way to Riga Castle, but the castle itself was not so dramatic on the outside, and it was currently being guarded by several soldiers so we thought it might be better to move on. A ways outside of the Old Town there was a street that was recommended for the baroque facades of the houses lining it, but there were only a few buildings that looked interesting and the rest were pretty standard.

It seemed like we had covered just about everything we wanted to see, and we still had a good day and a half left. Maybe it was Old Town burnout, but we went back to the hotel feeling a little down. Unlike the past two hotels, breakfast was included in our Riga hotel price, so we joined in downstairs. There was a big tour group there (Germans, I think) and so we competed with them for our food. I really liked the pork sausage meatballs they served, and Kuniko enjoyed the raspberry jam to put in her yogurt. The coffee machine was an automatic one, but due to the high volume of guests at that time it was always running out of something causing big delays. It was tricky to finally get our coffee going.

Although our cultural and architectural sightseeing was finished, I still had some foodie sightseeing I wanted to do. We started off at the huge Riga city market south of town. Just across from the bus station where we arrived, the market is housed in and around five giant hangars that used to house zeppelins in the previous World War. Now each hangar contains different categories of food, with a very slight overlap here and there. One was mainly fresh meats and butchers (we saw carts loaded with pig carcasses rolling towards the cold rooms), another was for fish and cured seafood, also there was one for gourmet produce and foods, and one for breads and cheeses. The last one was under construction, and I’m not sure what that will turn out to be. Outside and between the hangars were individual stands selling fruits and vegetables, and also food stands selling pastries, clothes shops and junk shops. The whole area was lively and it was exciting to walk through. Inside one hangar a woman was selling distilled honey spirits, and you could buy it by the shot, the bottle, or the giant bottle. We bought one shot and split it, and it went straight down to my toes – wow! The lady was used to the reaction and just giggled.

Outside on the way out of the market was a small tank on a trailer selling what I thought was beer. After we bought it and drank it turned out to be kvass, a mainly non-alcoholic drink made from bread that was very refreshing. Kvass was big in this region, but that was the only time we had it.

In this area I also tried to find a Dynamo Riga t-shirt. Back when I was a San Jose Sharks hockey fan a couple players came from Riga and played for Dynamo, and so I thought since I was here I should try to pick up a shirt. Surprisingly, nobody was selling them. Certainly it was off-season, but there was no team shop anywhere and the department store and sports shops both came up empty. One clerk recommended a tourist shop on the other side of town, so we filed away the information for later.

We decided that instead of going out to eat tonight, it might be fun to take a break from restaurants and buy all the elements of a picnic from the market instead. Kuniko and I enjoyed walking around choosing different things. I chose two cured cuts of fish – one yellowtail and one salmon that were beautifully aged and tender. Kuniko picked up some braised pork chunks that were nicely browned on the outside. We also bought some fresh fruit – some pears and apples that looked especially delicious. At a nearby supermarket we found sparkling wine made in Riga as well – so it was a completely local meal. After some internet research we found that drinking alcohol outside was illegal in Riga, so we had to adjust the location of our picnic to our hotel room, but it was still something to look forward to. We dropped off our haul of groceries back at the hotel, and then went once again into Old Town.

Our mission this time was to try some local beer.  Local wine was out on this trip (with the exception of Poland), so we focused on local beers and local cheeses usually. Near our hotel was a promising shop called “Easy Beer” but when we arrived at 11:52 am the staff turned us away. I asked when they opened and she said they opened at noon but they weren’t ready yet. As she told us this she actually had a sneer on her face – like a movie villain or something. We just thanked her and moved on, but I was surprised that they were so rude about it. Maybe dealing with English-speaking tourists all day makes you grouchy.

Not twenty steps away we found a place that was open, with outdoor seating, and that was advertising a small local beer tasting set for just 8 euros. We sat down and looked at the menu and it said that they in fact had a large set and a small set. I briefly considered getting the large set, but thought that it was just lunchtime and I didn’t want to end up staggering back to the hotel later. We ordered two small sets, and it turned out that the small sets consisted of four full-sized beers each. We ordered a plate of onion rings to try to balance out all the alcohol, and then set to work. The local beers had a lot of variety and again were very easy to drink. Only one was hoppy like American IPA style. It was nice to sit on the side of the cobblestone street sipping beers and watching the growing number of tourists walking by. Riga is also by the sea so it is sometimes a port of call for cruise ships. We saw groups of Japanese tourists as well – it was strange to hear Japanese spoken after so long without hearing it.

With our “tasting” complete, we staggered off to Freedom Square and tried to track down that elusive Dynamo Riga t-shirt. Somewhat miraculously, we found one at the store recommended by a local. It was the last shirt in the shop, it was in my size, and the design was just what I was hoping for. We also picked up a cheesy keychain to add to our Christmas tree at the end of the year, so it was a great success.

Still buzzing from the beers we went back to the hotel and had a party in our room with all the good food we had bought earlier. We drank the sparkling wine with the fish, meats and fruits, and even tried the local liqueur, called Black Balsam, but it was pretty nasty. No need to bring a bottle of that home.

It was still only early afternoon, we had consumed a shot of honey spirits, four beers each, a bottle of sparkling wine (and a nasty swallow of Black Balsam), and we were ready to keep the party going. We went back to the center of Freedom Square, and sat outside a very swanky restaurant called Kollonade. With a couple of glasses of prosecco we watched people walking by and kids playing in the park, and it was a nice relaxing time. Afterwards we bought a couple of ice creams at Laima, and then sat out on the grass in the shade of a tree next to a small series of waterfalls in the park and chatted about tomorrow’s plans. While eating the ice cream I suddenly remembered that I had read that the donuts from the Riga Market were highly recommended, so we somewhat unwisely went back through the market in search of donuts. We were successful, but ended up wearing a significant amount of the powdered sugar as we tried to eat it outside with a breeze blowing.

So it seemed the wise thing to do was to head back to the hotel and call it a day. I was surprised to see that the time was only about 6 pm when we got back, but we had no trouble falling asleep (as you can probably guess) and we slept soundly through until the next morning.

We are always early starters on vacation. There are a lot of benefits – cooler weather, less tourists at the most famous sites, and fewer cars and traffic to slow us down. But one drawback to this strategy, especially in Europe, is that most morning cafes don’t open until 8 or 9 am, which means we have to wait a few hours to get a nice slow cup of java. In Tallinn, thanks to walking around all the time, we did manage to find one that opened at 7:30 am. It was on the outskirts of Old Town and because most of the business they did was for locals they had reasonable prices and early hours. It was a one-woman show, but the baker was happy to translate what each pastry was, and pointed out her recommendations for us. We shared a small quiche, I had a pastry filled with minced bacon jam, and Kuniko had an apple pastry. We also had two coffees each while sitting at one of the two tables inside the shop. Locals came and went and it was a much better feeling that we got from the historic coffee shop yesterday that was deluged with foreign tourists (like us).

Back at the hotel we had time to kill before heading to the bus stop so I was writing in this journal, and then we packed up the suitcase and rolled out. There was a taxi stand right next to the hotel so it was easy to get a ride to the bus station. Surprisingly the bus station building and area were pretty clean, with a beautiful restored historic bus parked out front. Inside there were plenty of seats and shops selling goods for the road, and we debated buying some cold beers for the four hour drive to Riga, Latvia. In the end we stuck with the snacks we had already bought yesterday, and Kuniko got a funny Sudoku book that was covered with cheesy anime characters. We were worried that we would have nothing to do on the long ride.

Our bus pulled into the designated parking spot at 12:30 pm, and it was a big bus. I had purchased tickets online several months ago, so it was just a matter of lining up to store the suitcase underneath the bus and then get on. The line was a bit chaotic as people didn’t line up as politely as they do in Japan, but our seats were already reserved so no problem. I had sprung for “premium” seats that cost an extra 5 euros, and that got us some wider seats in the back with built-in entertainment systems, internet access, a candy bar and a bottle of water. There was even an onboard toilet that was positioned below the level of the seats as you went down the steps to get off the bus – interesting layout. Anyway, the entertainment system kept Kuniko busy with YouTube and k-pop, so it was a nice way to travel.

The ride itself was pleasant and comfortable. As we left Tallinn we tore into our big chunk of Estonian basil cheese (we didn’t bring a knife), a package of Tuc crackers (onion flavor) and some mortadella. A sign on board said “no alcoholic beverages” so we were glad we didn’t buy those beers. The drive was mostly on regular roads – no big wide expressways – so the pace was slow but steady. Behind me a guy was listening to hardcore heavy metal with his headphones, and when the bus slowed down I could hear it clearly – it was a nice soundtrack for the drive. We passed fields and pastures but few agricultural areas. The houses looked old but clean and well-maintained, and country life in Estonia seemed like a very peaceful way to live. Eventually the road ran alongside the ocean, but the water was so calm it seemed more like a lakeside drive. As we crossed the border into Latvia we saw that they still had the old border inspection buildings and walls, but now people just freely drove through.

Approaching Riga was very similar to when we arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia by bus from the airport. The buildings were very old and humble, but well-maintained and beautiful in their own way. Streets were clean and there was a little less advertising and capitalism than we’re used to seeing in Japan. Finally the bus pulled into the bus terminal in Riga, and we got off. The first thing we noticed was that the temperature was a little warmer than back in Tallinn. The heat was coming off the pavement and being surrounded by buses in the early afternoon also contributed. Once again Kuniko had chosen a hotel near our entry point, and it was a simple task to walk under the railroad bridge and find our hotel about five minutes away. We stayed at the Avalon Hotel, which was in a good location just outside the touristy area, and the room we stayed in (Room 312) was quite large. The only downside to the room was that the window opened up to a view above the inside of the hotel lobby rather than outside, but we didn’t spend much time in the room anyway.

We freshened up a little and then went out to check out Riga. One of the big draws of Riga is their historic Old Town, which was a little more elegant and less touristy than Tallinn’s Old Town. There was one major cathedral, St. Peter’s in the center of town which loomed over everything. The streets were again cobblestone but the shops seemed a little more sophisticated (with the exception of a TGIFridays we discovered). We walked around at random, within the Old Town city walls it was easy to find our direction and maybe it was a bit smaller than Tallinn.

There were also many beautiful parks around the city, and a striking opera house with a fountain and gardens in front. Historic old streetcars circled throughout the city to make transportation easier as well. We really liked the feeling of Riga.

In one open area there was an exhibit of large bear statues – one for each country of the world. A representative artist from each country had painted the bears and then they were lacquered to a beautiful shine and put on display. We had a great time looking through all the colorful bears and seeing the different interpretations of each country’s culture. We also made our way to Freedom Square that had an impressive statue at the center – this would be the place to rally the people in turbulent times. Kuniko pointed out the Laima clock – the landmark that every Riga citizen knows as a place to meet. Laima was the sweets company in this country – and we visited several Laima stores during our stay searching for good desserts.

For dinner we were able to get into my first choice restaurant, called “1221”. Named for the address of the building, it was located at a T-intersection of Old Town and it had a beautiful exterior that caught the eye. We sat outside directly in front of the restaurant and I think we were unintentionally featured in a lot of photos that evening. Dinner was excellent here – we started with a salad with a pink cranberry dressing, fresh pears, and big chunks of gorgonzola. My main course was roasted hare’s back fillets with a fruit and nut sauce, a light potato and cheese soufflé, and blueberries and raspberries on the side. Kuniko had a modernized local dish – sliced river perch with potatoes, homemade cottage cheese and pickled red onions. The bread they served with it was dark and nutty and the butter was laced with truffle for even more impact.

As we sat sipping wine and looking up at all the historic buildings around us we could really feel like we were on vacation. We even had a visit from the local Hare Krishna clan who did a mini parade down the street past our restaurant. We seem to bump into those guys in Europe quite often. Down the street some guys had too much to drink and were laughing crazily, and as the evening started to cool down we talked about our plans for the next day. After dinner we strolled leisurely to our hotel and called it a semi-early night. Even though we had really just sat on a bus most of the day we were kind of tired out.

I was up relatively early on Tuesday morning, but Kuniko needed to be near WiFi to handle an email from a co-worker at 8 am. I figured I’d use the time before the phone call by going out and taking some early morning pictures of the Old Town without all the tourists. I walked through the center of town, now completely empty, and proceeded to the northwest as far as the train station to look around. The train station was small and quaint, and even this early in the morning a few trains were lined up getting ready to head to other parts of Estonia and Europe. Beyond the train station was a newly revitalized area of town. Artists had taken up residence and renovated and redecorated what used to be run-down warehouses and storage. Now things were colorful and a little more edgy. It felt a little like walking through Berkeley, California when I was younger – counter-culture and a bit grungy but very interesting. As I walked back towards town a young man was laying on a park bench crying loudly. It looked like heartbreak to me, but I didn’t stop to offer counseling.

By the time I made it back to the hotel room Kuniko’s job stuff was wrapped up and we went together to go get coffee. We walked around the outside of the Old Town a bit and found Freedom Square, another two cathedrals, and then finally ended up at “Maiasmokk”, the oldest café in a very old town. The coffee was excellent, and when we arrived there were only a few customers besides us. But as we sipped and relaxed surrounded by marzipan animals and glamorous décor more and more tourists streamed in. Across from us a family of six sat around a table each staring at their own smartphone silently and I felt like it was getting to be time to leave.

Outside we could see that the cruise ships had arrived, and suddenly the streets were filling with tour groups following their guides and eager to see the Old Town. We proceeded outside of Old Town, and found an interesting shopping center/produce market that was built inside an old railroad depot. Outside was the produce market and in front was a big artistic metal sculpture the emitted mist when the temperature went up. The interior was stylish and clean and had a very good vibe. We looked through each shop – the cheese shop, the fish market, the candy store, and then ended up having two big pints of beer at a small beer kiosk on the first floor. The kiosk had some local beers on tap, and we enjoyed a little relaxation time while chatting with the staff, who were young, attractive, and spoke excellent English (again!). The beer we really liked here was by the brewery called Hell Hunt, and it was called a “Tume” which is a style of beer we’ve never had before. It was dark but not heavy and easy to drink a lot of – a dangerous beer!

We headed back in town just in time to buy eat at a pancake restaurant for lunch. A restaurant called Kompressor serves up savory and sweet pancakes in town and we really wanted to try it. We were waiting at the door when they opened, and that was a big factor in us getting our pancakes before the rush of other customers showed up. These pancakes were huge! We ordered some fried potato balls with garlic sauce as an appetizer to go with our sparkling wine, and then dug into our pancakes. Kuniko ordered a peaches, cream and brie stuffed pancake, and mine pancake was filled with button mushrooms and blue cheese. We finished both big pancakes, surprisingly enough, and then went back to our hotel for a little recovery time.

In the afternoon we figured we ought to try a quick test run to see just how far away the bus terminal was. The next day we were taking a bus to Latvia, and we didn’t want to waste any time by choosing the wrong way to the terminal. After walking for about 20 minutes we gave up and decided it would be best to hail a taxi from our hotel instead. That turned out to be the right choice as it was still a long ways off.

On the way back towards town we stopped in at a big department store called Stockmann (which we found in several other countries on this trip), we walked through a big shopping mall called Solaris and admired Estonian food courts and mall dining, and we took a brief rest near another cathedral to let our feet recharge. After doing a long loop around town in the rapidly warming weather we found a place I wanted to try, called the Boheme Café, which had dumplings that were recommended. We sat inside to beat the heat and had two tall beers and a small bowl each of dumplings – one with sour cream and one with chili sauce. As Kuniko said, they were more like pasta than dumplings, and we enjoyed them but it didn’t feel like an “authentic” dish. Little did I know then just how many more dumplings were in our future…

Already we had done a lot of walking, so we figured that a nap was in order. Back in the comfort of the hotel room we dozed a couple of hours and then headed back out in search of more food. The life of a foodie is not easy – there is never enough room in your stomach to try everything.

One of my students had recommended an underground beer cave called Porgu in Old Town, so we went there thinking we’d have a couple of drinks and just some small dishes of food. We ordered the food, but the dishes were anything but small – the antipasti plate had big chunks of meat and fish, and the cheese plate wasn’t sparse either with lots of different cheeses and big bread croutons. I tried a couple of beers there but the best was a “honey beer” (not mead) that really had a nice honey undertone while being completely without sweetness. Kuniko tried the liqueur famous in Tallinn, called Vana Tallinn, and we decided that we might as well buy a bottle later and bring it back to Japan for the cocktail shelf. After our meal we did some shopping to get the liqueur, as well as some cheese, meat and snacks for the bus ride tomorrow.

We got back to the hotel at about 9:30 that night and it was still bright outside. Although nightlife in the city was just ramping up, we called it a night and retired to our hotel room for journal writing and packing. We’re on the road again tomorrow to another new country.

Despite our big dinner the previous night we were craving a breakfast for this morning. Since we’d be stuck on a ferry for a couple hours and with no idea what kind of food/drink might be available during that time it seemed like a good idea to eat a real breakfast. We went to a buffet breakfast in the center of town at Fazer Café. Fazer is the name of a local chocolate company – we saw their products everywhere in Helsinki. The price of the buffet was quite reasonable and included plenty of good coffee to go along with it. I stocked up on bacon and eggs, the cheese plate was nicely laid out with several different kinds of cheese, and of course the dessert and cake section was impressive. I had a beet salad there that was exceptionally good – they know their beets in this part of the world.

While eating I noticed that all of the staff, and about 80% of the customers were blonde haired. There are a lot of blondes in this city – all that Scandinavian DNA I guess. We bought a few chocolates to go for a taste test later on, and then went back to our hotel to pack up and check out. It was a short taxi ride to the harbor (I didn’t want to drag our poor suitcase the whole way) and then we arrived at the terminal building with a giant ferry (185 m / 607 ft. long) waiting alongside. The terminal building was quite active when we got there – it had been dead the previous day when we bought the tickets. We checked in at a kiosk which issued us two cards with magnetic strips, and then we slid the cards through the gates upstairs to be allowed into the general waiting area. There were already a lot of people there even though we weren’t scheduled to board for another 30 minutes or so. We stood in line in front of the boarding gates – there were three big doors with a digital clock above showing the boarding time. As we waited some younger passengers started to do some entertaining – some juggling and dancing to make a little money while they waited. Soon enough they opened the gates and we went onboard, rolling our suitcase behind us.

We weren’t alone with the luggage, and they had a good system to handle it. There was an optional “luggage room” where you could put your bags on racks, and then just as the ferry left they locked it for the duration of the voyage. It was a relatively secure way to deal with all the bags, and luckily we didn’t forget anything we needed in our suitcase.

After dropping off the suitcase we set out to explore the ship. It was quite large and really more like a small city than anything. The lower floors had plenty of room for trucks, cars, and cabins that people could rent (but for only a two hour voyage it didn’t make sense for us) and the upper floors had a surprising amount of shopping – kind of like a duty free area of the airport. There were small game rooms and casino machines sprinkled around, and several big restaurants, at least four bars that I saw, a nightclub (that seemed to be doing good business even at noon), and a large kid area in the front of the ship for them to play and be entertained. We spent much of our time on top of the ship on the sundecks sipping local beer and enjoying the scenery.

As we slipped out of the harbor and cruised past the fortress island I took some more pictures, and soon enough we were out to sea with Helsinki and Finland fading away behind us.

Since we had time to kill we walked around to see what the shopping areas were like. By far the most popular store was selling alcohol – lots and lots of alcohol. Not only beer – they had premium wines and spirits on a scale that was impressive. More kinds than Costco, and people buying it like it was going to be illegal tomorrow.  I thought the prices were similar to duty free prices at airports – that is, not such a great deal really – but most people didn’t share the same opinion and were lining up to fill their shopping bags. This alcohol was not to drink now – most people were taking it home.

We spent some time at a restaurant below decks sipping red wine and going through a chocolate tasting of the Fazer sweets that we had bought earlier that morning, and soon enough our two hours was up and we started to approach the city of Tallinn, Estonia. There was a big group of people waiting at the doors to disembark, and once we got our suitcase we joined them. From there it was down a long passageway and then directly onto the public streets of Tallinn – no passport or immigration check at all. We had done a passport check when we bought the tickets the previous day and I guess that is enough for the EU zone.

Again, Kuniko had planned the hotel location well and it was a short walk into town from the harbor area. The hotel was located on the border of the Old Town of Tallinn, and that made it easy to walk there without fighting crowds of tourists. We checked into the Hotel Bern, stashed our bags in our room, and then went out to see what the Old Town was like.

Our first reaction to Tallinn’s Old Town was “charmed”, I’d say. The buildings are historic and well-maintained, the streets are cobblestone and there are cathedrals and interesting buildings around every corner. When we arrived there were quite a few tourists walking around gawking like we were, and lots of people sort of naturally migrated to the central square that was lined with restaurants featuring outdoor dining.

Also on the central market square was a big cathedral, with odd dragon heads sticking out near the top. The market square was also used for the occasional “historical re-enactment”, which meant that some poor schmuck in a medieval costume would shout about something now and then. They even had girls chained to wagons going by sometimes, which I hope was just a re-enactment. We thought it was pretty cheesy, but with the beautiful architecture and all the outside dining and beautiful weather we were willing to overlook it.

Our first stop was to make a reservation at a highly recommended restaurant but unfortunately they were all booked up for both that day and the following day. It was much more popular than I had expected! Luckily we got a reservation at my second choice restaurant for later that night.

In the meantime, we did some sightseeing around town, enjoyed the views of the city from the overlook, and generally tried to settle into this new atmosphere. Helsinki was a big city and this was much smaller and more touristy, and that took some adjustment. We stopped for some prosecco on the square – I think it was an Italian restaurant but the staff had to wear some odd orange costumes that looked more like monk’s robes and I couldn’t really understand the significance. I asked our waitress, and she just said, “They told me to wear this so I didn’t ask any questions.”

Our dinner was at a place a few blocks from the central square called Leib (which means bread in Estonian). The restaurant was located in the back yard of a historic building with tables on a patio and in their garden. The garden was really comfortable, in the shadow of an ancient stone church and near the entrance was a statue of Sean Connery’s head which made for an interesting discussion point. The focus at Leib was local, natural foods. We started with a dumpling appetizer that was unique – the wrappers of the dumplings were made from shaved radish and filled with salty buttery squash. There was black bread served as a side with butter and green onions. The green onions combined with the quality butter was a new taste for me, and the butter is served from a wooden spatula that we saw elsewhere in Tallinn. Kuniko ordered the trout with various vegetables, and I had the roasted quail on salted kale leaves. Both dishes were really good and you could tell they put a lot of care into the menu. The wine selections were excellent as well, and we left feeling refreshed rather than stuffed.

After dinner we had the craving to eat some cheese, preferably local, and so we ended up at a small restaurant closer to the center of town (memorably called “Tabula Rasa”) that featured an Estonian cheese plate on their menu. We also ordered sprats on toast, which came served with a soft-boiled egg on top – the sprats were great. The cheeses also were interesting – there were six different kinds including a smoked goat cheese, one with rosemary, a sheep’s milk manchego imitation that I liked, one that interestingly tasted like it was embedded with nori, and the cheese came with breadsticks and clumps of a tasty berry jam. We had some prosecco and red wine with our “second dinner”, so we were feeling pretty happy by the end of it. Our blonde-haired waitress was really helpful and spoke excellent English so we were in good hands.

Finally, after these gastronomic accomplishments we strolled back to our hotel. The sun was still hours from setting but we were tucked into bed and getting ready for a full day of looking around Tallinn tomorrow.

We slept well in our hotel and found ourselves wide awake at 6 am, so we got organized and left the hotel around 7 am to do some exploring. Despite the rainy weather forecast from our hotel lobby staff yesterday it was a beautiful day out – clear blue skies and cool temperatures.

Our target this morning was to head on foot to see a monument built of stainless steel pipes in a park about two kilometers west of the city. At 7 am there were not many people out and about, and it was a very peaceful walk. Along the way part of the main road was under construction, so we cut across a park and walked alongside the coast which was more pleasant. The city has nicely integrated trees and greenery and the pathway we were on passed small boat clubs and big apartment buildings with views of the ocean. At one point we turned a corner and a wild fox broke out of the brush, stopped and looked at us for a second, and then disappeared.

We finally reached the pipes and took a few pictures – it was one of the few “artistic” sightseeing spots in the city and I was expecting crowds, but there was only one other group (a Japanese family of three) so we timed it right.

From there we walked back towards the center of the city, circumventing a lake and walking past strange sculptures and aggressive geese in the park before arriving across from the central train station. We ducked into a café for some morning coffee, and while I waited in line to order the British family of four in front of me agonized over the decision of what to get. They finally saw me and let me cut ahead, so Kuniko and I could enjoy our café latte and cappuccino and watch people walking by outside.

Next on our list of things to do was to take a short ferry ride to Suomenlinna, an island fortress built to control the waterways in front of Helsinki and defend against Russian attacks over the years. It was easy enough to buy ferry tickets and we boarded the ferry early and let it fill up around us. It was just 5-10 minutes to the rather large set of islands, and then we walked on our own around enjoying the quiet. It was still quite early, and so there weren’t many sightseers here which made it perfect for a relaxing walk. The whole island had a forgotten, deserted feeling. There were historic old buildings in the interior of the island (some converted to cafes and restaurants but they looked abandoned from the outside), and around the exterior there were still many old cannons and fortifications. Some Asian guy was straddling the barrel of one giant cannon and looking longingly out to sea – Freud would have a field day with that one. Along the coast we saw some people relaxing in swimsuits in the sun, and we could tell that winters must be tough there because people were just absolutely drinking up the sunshine.

After getting our fill of the fortress island we caught a ferry back. Our ferry this time was more historic – it reminded us of the White Star ferries in Hong Kong with the all-wood interiors and antique feel. The ferries coming in were getting more and more full and the ride back was almost empty, so it seemed like we timed our visit well. The ferry dropped us back in front of the market at the harbor, so we went back to the tent advertising moose balls and had a chance to put some in our hungry bellies. We also ordered a big cut of salmon filet. Walking by earlier in the morning we saw them laying out the long salmon filets, skin side down in a healthy amount of olive oil on a large hot griddle, and they let them cook slowly – bubbling away for an hour or more until they cook through. The piece that we received was some of the best salmon I’ve ever had – but that only proved to be true for a few hours until I had some more delicious salmon later on. The moose balls were made of ground moose meat, formed into meatballs and served with lingonberry jam and a garlic cream sauce. It was a big win all around – everything was great. They also served some potatoes and vegetables on the side, but they weren’t so flavorful, unfortunately. We washed everything down with two cold Lapin Kulta light beers in the bottle. While we ate our food at the table behind the food tent another guy walked up and sat down at an empty table, produced a baguette, salami and cheese, and had a little solo picnic. Nobody seemed to mind but I thought it was weird that he would take a busy table away from the restaurant so that he could eat his own food.

After lunch we bought a cheesy keychain from one of the souvenir vendors in an adjacent tent, and then walked down the harbor to the end to buy tickets on the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia the next day. We bought tickets from the Viking Line, and it turned out to be a pretty reasonable price for a two hour international boat ride.

Back to the sunny and increasingly busy Esplanadin promenade, we dropped into a restaurant with lots of tables outside and beautiful glass floor-to-ceiling windows and gardens. In this very elegant environment we enjoyed a couple glasses of prosecco – it was Sunday after all. We spent a slow, relaxing time here sipping our drinks and watching the tourists walking by around us. Nearby was a big fountain, with streetcars passing, and above the blue sky still showed no signs of rain, or even clouds, for that matter. The hot summer of Japan seemed far, far away.

In the afternoon we did a little shopping – some for souvenirs (Marimekko cocktail napkins and “Moomin” goods) and also snacks for ourselves. At a bakery we bought a piece of rice-filled bread which is apparently a local favorite, and I liked the contrast in textures while eating it. At a fruit stand we bought some local blueberries and lingonberries and enjoyed them in our hotel room at our leisure. We both used the hotel lounge to relax as well, sipping beer and writing in this journal while the maids cleaned our room upstairs.

Yesterday we had made a reservation for dinner tonight, and we had some time to kill so we walked around the city, upping our step count and seeing more of the sights beyond the tourist areas. We rested our feet in a park to the south of the city, and watched some teens playing basketball very casually nearby. After about ten minutes of relaxation, we heard a sudden hissing, and then it built to a mild roar. I thought maybe a truck was coming out of a nearby tunnel, but then suddenly we realized that a curtain of rain was heading our way. We had a mild moment of panic while we tried to get our umbrella out of Kuniko’s bag while shifting and protecting our shopping bags, but we managed it. We waited out the rain under a nearby tree, and it turned out to be just a brief rainstorm.

Rather than risk more rain we walked into town a little closer to our restaurant and found a bar that looked interesting called “Roster”. We sat at a high table with candles all around us, a big neon skull hanging on the wall behind, and drank red wine by the glass. The wine was good – Kuniko had a blend of French and Portuguese grapes that was very drinkable. The wine cellar there had some dummy bottles attached to a belt that moved up and down from the basement to the ground floor – kind of unique. The staff was really helpful and friendly, and it was a good place to kill some time waiting for the rain to clear. It turned out that our hotel lobby weather forecast was correct after all.

After our wine the rain was finished, and we walked around the corner to our restaurant for the night, the highly recommended traditional Finnish restaurant called “Savotta”. They served mainly hearty roasted meats and fish, and it turned out to be quite good. We started with an appetizer plate full of interesting things: bear salami, thinly sliced roast reindeer, lamb pate, Atlantic char, wild mushrooms blended with dill cream, a mini-pastry, and more. Everything was good – I had no idea that dill went well with so many things. Kuniko’s main dish was ten-hour braised lamb served in a roughly-carved wooden bowl, and I had a big slab of roasted Atlantic char that was once again the best salmon I’ve ever had. For dessert we had a rhubarb crumble with vanilla bean cream, and then we were done. It was a great meal and we were full – we walked straight back to the hotel and fell right into bed.

We got up at 4:30 am on Saturday, the same time I usually get up for work on a normal weekday, and we were ready to go by 5:00 am. We did the usual household lockdown – turning off the automatic timers and making sure that everything will be quiet while we are gone for two weeks. Then we rolled our new suitcase (recently bought during our trip to California) out to Okubo station to take the first train out. We got to Sannomiya, bought some tickets to Kansai airport, and boarded the bus. I think we both slept through most of the bus ride – I remember the bus pulling out onto the expressway then the next thing I remember is arriving at the airport – a pretty painless way to get there.

For the first time we are taking a direct flight from Kansai International Airport to our first trip destination. Usually we do some sort of transit in Dubai, China or Turkey, so this should be fun. It also cuts a lot of wasted time in airports – it is only 9 1/2 hours to Helsinki on a Finnair jet from Osaka, so more time to enjoy our holiday.

There was still a little time to kill so we had a light breakfast and coffee from Starbucks, and then the gate opened and we checked our luggage and got our boarding passes. There was time on the other side of security, so we relaxed together in a semi-private lounge chair on that side of the terminal, and eventually got two cold beers and some Jagarico snacks to munch on – we were eager to have that first cold beer of the trip. While waiting we sat near a window that facced our Finnair jet being prepped and loaded. Kuniko still had some phone calls to make and emails to send off to students, and there was a funny moment when she was in the middle of explaining something to a company that her student is meeting with, and then the airport announcement system started blaring overhead so loudly they could barely finish the call. Finally, with everything all wrapped up we boarded and took our seats and we were off.

It was my first time on Finnair and it was a good experience. If I had to describe the service of Finnair in one word I would say “simple”. I guess they are building this sort of Nordic simplicity theme, but from the meals to the easy to use interface for the in-flight entertainment system everything was simple (in a good way). I managed to sleep a little more on the flight as we flew around North Korea, over China and Mongolia, and then watched three movies over Russia. After that it was time for our descent into Helsinki.

Helsinki wasn’t really on our radar when planning this trip, but the combination of direct flight, good price, and constant ferry service across to Estonia convinced us it would make a good starting place. I had heard that there wasn’t a lot to do in Helsinki, and that it was quite expensive, and both of those things turned out to be true. But it also was a nice re-introduction to the European art of summer relaxation.

After zipping through immigration and customs (the airport was surprisingly silent and empty – most of the passengers from our flight went on to transfers and there were only a handful of people staying here) we walked through the terminal and found the train station. It was easy to buy two train tickets at a kiosk using a credit card, and then we went downstairs and caught the next train into town. It was about a half hour ride, and during that time nobody checked our tickets so the ticket price was technically an unnecessary expense.

The train ride was short but nice, with great views of how people lived outside of town. The weather was cool and there was plenty of blue sky and sunshine – quite a contrast to the sticky wet summer we had left behind in Osaka.

Kuniko had chosen the hotel carefully based on the location of the train station, and when the train pulled into the old fashioned Helsinki Central Terminal we had only a short walk to reach our check-in counter. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Helsinki Centre, and it was fairly stylish, clean and friendly.  At check-in the clerk told us that rain was in the forecast for the next day, so we decided to drop off our stuff and do sort of aggressive sightseeing today to avoid gray cloudy pictures the next day.

It turned out that the town was easy to see on foot. We started by walking through the center of town towards the water on a pedestrian walkway/park called the Esplanadin Puisto. With shops and streets on both sides there was a center strip of a park dedicated to pedestrians, with fountains, statues and beautifully maintained gardens. The entire walkway was lined with benches and this being Saturday many of the locals were sitting outside soaking in the sun. We followed the pathway to the harbor area, just one of the many ports on the southern side of the city. This port seemed to be filled mainly with cruise ships and ferries, and we ended up riding one of them out of the country a few days later.

The harbor is also where they had many tents selling fruits, souvenirs, and food (salmon fillets, moose balls, reindeer haunches, steamed vegetables). We decided to wait on the moose balls and instead spent time in the area taking pictures of the cathedrals and other buildings. Two highlights were the Uspenski Cathedral, a big red cathedral overlooking the harbor directly, and the more dramatic Helsinki Cathedral on a square a few blocks away from the harbor.

We decided to have dinner at a restaurant called SUNN, located on that same square. Our dinner table was next to a window so we could look out on the cathedral while we ate. The square in front of the cathedral was active with tourists, some demonstrators (holding signs with a strange illustrated picture of their hero), and a few police officers watching things idly.

The wine list was quite good and it was nice to be in the EU again and have access to their high quality wines at a (relatively) lower price. The dinner was excellent, too. I had a cut of reindeer sirloin, and Kuniko had an open-faced sandwich of crayfish on dark bread.

After dinner we strolled a bit looking for a wine bar for a couple of glasses of wine and maybe some local cheese, but the wine bar never appeared. We instead went to a craft beer place and sat outside. We were very surprised to see the price of 500mL of craft beer was about the same as in Japan – about 10 euros. Rather than spend more time (and money) here we decided to find a place to do some shopping and take the party back to our hotel room.

We settled on a grocery store near our hotel, and we bought two pieces of cheese and a big carton of blueberry juice for our nightcap. One cheese was from Denmark, a truffle camembert, and the other from a local farm – a semi-hard cheese laced with chili peppers. They were both great, but about 15 minutes into our blueberry juice and cheese party we both felt the effects of the time difference and jet lag, and we hit the sack soon after. It was still light outside – the sun set around 10:00 pm – but we had fallen asleep long before that.

This July we had a chance to get away from the heat of Japan and spend some time relaxing with my parents in Glen Ellen. It had been a long time since I had been there, and I was curious to see the aftermath of the big fires in that area as well as catch up with events in my home town.

The first part of the trip was actually in Taipei, Taiwan. We got cheap tickets flying on EVA Air, and so on the first leg we had about 10 hours to kill in Taipei. Our luggage was checked through to San Francisco, so we could take the train into Taipei and enjoy some food tourism without worrying about dragging our bags around.

The train ride from the airport was very convenient, and helpful staff at the airport made sure that we were able to buy tickets and get to the correct train platform. From there we caught an express train that took just 40 minutes to get to the center of Taipei. It was my first time to ride this train, a train that my company built, and it certainly was nicer than the bus ride that we used last time.

Once we arrived in the city center we made a beeline for the noodle shop that Mamiko had introduced us to last time we were in Taiwan. We found it easily enough thanks to the GPS application on my phone, down a dirty and slightly dark alley lined with small open air restaurants. This was the kind of place where nobody speaks English, so we did the best we could – using gestures and interpreting the Chinese characters through the filter of our Japanese knowledge.  We ordered two bowls of “beef noodles” – one with spices and one plain. Unfortunately, once they arrived we realized that we had ordered something different from what we had remembered. They were great – huge chunks of braised beef in soup with udon style noodles – but not what we had meant to order. Fortunately, the guy next to us received a bowl of “ja-ja men” which turned out to be the dish that we wanted to order, so we pointed and ordered what he was having. Then we faced down three big bowls of noodles and did them justice by finishing them.

The ja-ja men was just as good as I remembered. I’m not sure exactly how they make the pungent garlic meat sauce that is poured over the thick udon-like noodles, but it contains some meat, some beef fat, and loads of roasted garlic.  I felt bad for whoever was going to sit next to us on the our upcoming flight.

From there we wandered to several points on our map – including Shilin Market. The market is quite large and we ate underground to avoid the heat. We picked a restaurant at random, and sat on tables covered with laminated bright yellow menus. People walked by and watched as others ate, and it was a lively place even in the late afternoon. Because we had eaten a few more bowls of noodles than we had expected it was a little tougher to pack in more food, but we did all right. Especially good were the shorompo – slightly different from the more common Hong Kong dumplings, but good in their own way. Less interesting were the gyoza – it tasted like the filling was more cabbage than meat, and the tangy sweet sauce on top didn’t rub me the right way.

Despite having a little more time available we decided to play it safe and head back to the airport, ensuring that we’d be in an air conditioned environment near some clean bathrooms. It was nice to explore the airport a little, and there was a surprising amount of shops even before passing back through security.

We caught our late night flight out of Taipei, and then it was about a 10 hour flight to San Francisco. The food on EVA Air was not the greatest, but they did have a big screen entertainment center on the seats in front of us, and the staff were generally friendly. The air conditioner was blasting pretty hard making the cabin quite cold (I’ve noticed that this is common in Taiwan in general – air conditioners are off or at full blast), so with the aid of a blanket I was able to get almost five hours of sleep which was a new record for me. We watched movies and some TV after that, and then we landed at our destination. After getting through immigration and customs we met up with my mom and dad who were waiting patiently outside the gate, and then we took the long drive home to Glen Ellen.

We spent a really relaxing week with my parents in the comparatively cooler weather. Besides catching up, playing chickenfoot every night and eating delicious homemade Mexican food we also fit in plenty of wine, beer and cheese tasting, and shopping. Our experience tasting wine at Imagery Winery and St. Francis was really nice, as well as a long drive north to taste wine and beer in Anderson Valley, at Anderson Valley Brewing, Roederer Estates, Navarro, and Toulouse Winery. We had a nice experience at Gloria Ferrer tasting sparkling wine turn into some kind of horror movie nightmare when we were chased away from our food by a swarm of flies from the fields next door. There are some bad points about eating outside, I guess.

We had dinner one night at Glen Ellen Star, a restaurant that I had wanted to visit for a long time. Kuniko and I are big on vegetables and they specialized in roasting various veggies in skillets in a big woodfire oven. The four of us sat at a table in the center of the lively restaurant and dug through five different veggie plates, two appetizers and two main dishes of pasta. Even the ice cream was excellent – we liked the bourbon maple ice cream the best, I think. Everything was good, and we even had a chance to talk to Erinn Benziger and her husband the chef, Ari Weiswasser.

Surveying the fire damage was a weird feeling. There was no pattern as to which houses escaped the fire and which were consumed, and by the time we arrived the land was growing up again with grasses and bushes filling in the gaps that the fire left. Some places were already being rebuilt, and it will be interesting to see the area after another couple of years. We were glad that our house made it through safely. My parents had done some landscaping to the front and back yards of the house, so it was nice to see the results as the plants have started to grow in to their new locations. Everything looked clean and beautiful, and the deer were right at home walking through and eating their fill of the fresh plants and bushes.

On our way one day to pick up a pizza at Mary’s my dad and I stopped in at Sonoma Springs, a new (to me) local brewery at the end of Petaluma Avenue in Sonoma. The beer was quite good, and I liked the atmosphere inside. We tried a couple of beers and I even took a beer back to Japan to give to a beer-loving friend.

Towards the end of the visit we went up to Benziger Winery to meet some old friends and some of my dad’s co-workers. It was good to see Joe Benziger, Ignacio, Jose, and Joaquin. It felt in some ways like no time had passed at all, and in other ways like a completely different timeline in my life. It was interesting to interact with Joe in a situation where he wasn’t my boss – just a guy I used to work with. Joaquin and I spent a long time talking and he sounded happy with his life. It was great to be back up there, but I am really happy that I have moved on from my Benziger days.

At the end of the week we packed up all our goodies into two new suitcases, and got ready to head back. The original plan was to meet Mark, Susan, Maya and Charlie at the San Francisco airport, as they had to return their rental car there. However, the plan was changed based on some travel troubles that they had experienced, so we ended up waiting for them in Glen Ellen. Our flight was at 1:00 am the next day, so we had the evening to make it down to the airport.

They showed up at around 8 pm, and so we had about 30 minutes to spend with Charlie and Maya before we left for SFO. Banzai stayed behind to watch the girls, and we drove down to the city in two cars without any trouble. Susan drove their rental car with Mark, Kuniko and I as passengers, and my dad drove his van with only our three big pieces of luggage as company. We followed the GPS to the car rental place and arrived just five minutes before the deadline of 10 pm, so far, so good. We stepped out to the curb to wait for my dad to show up, but he apparently took a wrong turn and couldn’t find us. I think part of the problem was that the car rental place we dropped off their car was in a different part of town, so we waited for about 20-30 minutes before changing the plan again.

The next step was to take the rental car shuttle to the airport, but the slightly odd (possibly on drugs?) driver only took us to another shuttle stop. The shuttles were packed because the airport rail system was stopped, so it made for a tight squeeze. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about any baggage. After some anxious moments with the clock ticking down, we arrived at the international terminal to find my dad waiting patiently with our luggage. Mark and Susan could sense our unease – we hate to have our fate out of our hands right before a long international flight – and they kept up plenty of conversation to keep our minds on other things.  It was good to spend some time talking with them.

Once through immigration and security the only restaurant still open was a Japanese restaurant, so we ate edamame and a few pieces of sushi with our Sapporo beers until boarding. We were able to catch our flight to Taipei without any trouble, and it was a smooth flight back. I got a new record of eight hours of sleep on a twelve hour flight. I hope I can pull off something like that again during our next trip.

It was a great time with family and now we’re focusing on the next trip to Northeastern Europe and the Baltic states. Hard to believe it is just a couple of weeks away!