Our hotel in Copenhagen also had breakfast included, and what a breakfast! We went down to the first floor and the dining room of the bar had been converted to a breakfast buffet. Hot eggs, bacon, pancakes, a plate of some of nice cheeses (cheeses I wouldn’t give out to guests – these were premium!), some yogurt that was like no other yogurt I had ever tried – maybe homemade? At each table was a tall thermos of hot coffee so we could pour our own and tamper with it how we liked. It was much better than the automatic machine from the last hotel.

Since the breakfast was so nice we lingered a bit longer. In the dining room there was a Spanish family speaking in loud volume about something that had happened last night in a restaurant somewhere. The father was full of opinions, and the rest of the family dutifully listened to him rant while they waited for their taxi. I heard a lot of Spanish on this trip.

Once we finished breakfast we got an early start on sightseeing. We first traveled south and across a river to a part of town surrounded by canals, and there we went to see the Church of Our Saviour. The spire of the cathedral was beautifully designed in dark colors with an odd spiral twist at the top – it was really attractive. We left that neighborhood and walked through more empty streets on the Nyhavn, this time having the place almost all to ourselves. I took lots of pictures of the colored buildings on the waterfront, and really spent some quality time there. From Nyhavn we headed north along the waterfront to go and try to see the mermaid statue that has become a symbol of Copenhagen. However, along the way we passed (accidentally) through a huge square. The square was about 100 yards on a side, with a big statue of Fredrik V on a horse in the center. Along the east side was the dramatic dome of the Fredrik’s Church. But other than these two landmarks, that remarkable amount of space was standing empty. Well, almost empty. At each corner of the square there was an armed guard posted. The guards were wearing formal dress, and by chance when we entered the square they started a slow march to change positions. It was a very surreal feeling to be in a space that big surrounded by four silent armed guards in a city we barely knew. As we left the square heading north a young woman was hurrying the opposite way alone, so maybe her boyfriend was working guard duty that day.

We didn’t see many other people until we reached the mermaid statue. There were already a group of Chinese tourists there posing for pictures in front of the statue. One cute old lady was lying on her side on the rocks, vaguely imitating the pose of the mermaid – it was an unusual scene. Near that area we walked through the Kastellet – an old military base that was converted into a city park. We spotted some armed soldiers walking through, so perhaps it is still active. We even found a windmill in there – interesting place.

From that area we headed generally southwest, using a long city park to make the travel more interesting. The park was really grown out and felt a little like Disney’s Jungle Cruise ride. But there weren’t many people out, it was quiet, and we felt pretty safe (no tigers!) We re-visited the Stroget shopping area, did some shopping at a supermarket called IRMA, bought a mermaid ornament to hang on our tree this Christmas, and went back to the LEGO store on the off-chance that they had restocked stormtroopers on keychains. Unfortunately they didn’t have them on the rack, so Kuniko settled for a BB-8 and Darth Vader instead. As we were paying the handsome LEGO cashier, I mentioned that we were disappointed that they didn’t have the stormtrooper keychain, and he said that he’d check the back room for us. And to our surprise (and Kuniko’s great joy) he came out with a handful of them. Kuniko bought two of them on the spot, and we left the store very happy. Kuniko started to cry – she was so happy to find it – and that was a very successful shopping trip.

After leaving the store we stumbled on another big city square with dining tables outside, so we took the opportunity to sit down in the shade of the umbrellas and become the first customer of day for a restaurant we picked at random. We bought two big Carlsberg beers and drank them outside while resting our feet from all that walking. The place was interesting – they had faux animal furs on the seats (in case we got cold) and once we sat down more customers came quickly.

Our next stop was Flying Tiger, nearby. If you remember I mentioned that in Reykjavik I had urged Kuniko to wait on buying crayfish napkins, with the rationale that Copenhagen would have them for a better price since everything was expensive in Iceland. Unfortunately Flying Tiger in Copenhagen was sold out, so we missed our chance. Oh no!

One more interesting stop was a big food hall, filled with upscale restaurants, cafes, cheesemongers, butchers and fish shops. There we bought a large fried fish cake (fiskadeller) with a side of fake crab salad and an ice cold bottle of ale. We ate on barstools in the busy market while people squeezed by behind us, and sitting together with my beautiful wife, drinking that beer and eating that food I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. It was one of those moments of bliss that seem to happen so much more often when we’re on vacation.

We made our way back to the hotel room, and unfortunately the room was not cleaned yet. We followed our standard procedure and went back down to the hotel bar to drink a little and write in this journal. I had a Tuborg beer, and Kuniko had an E-pa, and since it was an unusual item on the menu I ordered a blueberry cider. Unfortunately when it arrived I realized that it was actually apple cider with blueberry flavor. Not bad, just not what I was hoping for.

We spent a little more time resting up in our room after it was cleaned up, and outside the building in the square below someone was having a music party. He was playing dance music at a very loud volume but also singing along terribly at the top of his lungs. It went straight past annoying and on to strange and funny. We enjoyed listening to his take on euro dance, and we were laughing every few minutes when his voice cracked. Great memories of that afternoon!

In the evening we stayed a little closer to the hotel, visiting a lake built right in the city, a furniture shop that felt a little like a rip-off of IKEA, and then we moved on to our dinner restaurant, called Fridas. The reason I picked the restaurant is that it was “traditional” Danish food, and their menu had a dish I wanted to try. The interior was dark and reminded me a lot of an Irish pub, with lots of old pictures and strange utensils decorating the walls. The proprietor took our order, and we drank beers while we watched the other customers. Believe it or not, we seemed to be the only tourists in the place so that was a good sign.

Dinner came and we dug in. The dish I wanted to try was morbradboffer – a hot pot dish with fried pork in a rich red sauce, mixed together with big chunks of crispy bacon and small wieners. This is scooped onto rice and then eaten with a complete disregard for cholesterol levels. Kuniko went with veal liver with mushroom sauce, and her dish also had a side of little steamed potatoes, pickles (refreshing) and a plate of bacon. They are completely not messing around here. The beers we had here were worth mentioning, too: we had a Jacobsen Brown Ale and a Jacobsen IPA – both excellent ways to wash down all that meat.

After the big heavy meal we stopped in the store to buy some snacks for the leg of our journey, by bus and train tomorrow. We bought some chocolate, some yogurt, and some canned prosecco as a nightcap. Another big walking day with 30,080 steps – a new record for this trip.

So the alarm rings at 2:00 am and oddly enough the party is over across the street at the nightclub. We got everything packed up and rolled our suitcase out of the hotel and down the hill towards where I had made a web reservation for a pick-up at 3:00 am. I was hoping that they would remember to show up, because there are not a lot of people we could call to get a ride to the airport this early in the morning. When we arrived at the bus stop there was some relief because an older Japanese couple were there already waiting. The sun was just starting to rise and it was damn cold out there – I hoped that the Japanese couple hadn’t been waiting too long.

At 3:00 am we had our hands in our pockets trying to stay warm, and looking forward to the mini-bus but no cars appeared to help us. I saw a taxi parked down the street with the driver idling the engine, so at least we had that (expensive) option if it came down to a rush for the airport. Kuniko was just starting to lecture on the importance of professionalism in business when the mini-bus appeared at the corner and came to pick us up. Hooray! The driver was looking for one more Japanese person, who was obviously not there, and so rather than wait we took off. I wonder what happened to the missing person. Too much fermented shark?

The mini-bus took us back to the terminal, and we re-boarded a big bus, and this time they left right on time rather than waiting for the bus to fill up. It was a 45 minute drive to the airport, this time in a darker and slightly spookier situation. We listened to 80’s pop music on the radio and watched the ocean passing by on the right. At the airport things were just starting to open for the morning. We checked our bag by ourselves, and then went inside to look for some breakfast. Things were opening slowly, but when hot food became available we were right there for a ham and egg sandwich, a cheese omelet, and two mimosas.

From Iceland to Copenhagen, Denmark it takes only about 3 hours by plane. The flight itself was very smooth and we could enjoy the views down on Denmark and all the beautiful peninsulas and islands (most had farmland from coast to coast). The only hitch in the flight was an Icelandic devil child who sat behind me and was completely bonkers. He was about six years old and enjoyed screaming at random times, kicking and hitting the walls, grabbing my hair from behind, and pushing his arms through the seats to pull and hit me. His mother sat next to him trying to handle a toddler in her arms, and didn’t seem to notice. She apologized once I think, but with her accent and my skill with the Icelandic tongue it was hard to say. It was the first time in a long time I had seen anyone completely lose and give up on controlling their kid.

So we landed, changed money (from a pushy clerk) and then caught a train to Copenhagen central station, which was totally easy. The train ride was just 10 minutes or so, and then we were on the platform. We had to climb some steps (lugging the suitcase) to get out of the station but then we walked around a construction area and found our hotel just nearby, the Absalon Hotel. The hotel was a beautiful boutique style place surrounded by strip clubs and erotic wear shops. Hotel good, neighborhood exotic!

After checking in we went right back out to explore the city. It was in the early afternoon, which is the peak time for tourism, so it was a little hard to get where we wanted to go. We had to walk around Tivoli Gardens (a theme park in the middle of the city) then along busy streets taking care not to use the bicycle paths. Copenhagen and Amsterdam took their bicycle paths very clearly – they get right of way and you have to keep your head up or you’ll get clipped (or at least yelled at). As we walked around the city you could quickly see the age of the big stone buildings and really it felt like stepping into history. The lanes were a little more narrow here, and we walked through many beautiful squares and parks. We reached the popular waterfront Nyhavn, and even more people were here taking pictures and coming very close to falling into the canals on the waterfront. This place was one of the main things we wanted to see, and now that we arrived we had to share it with lots of people, cars and bike traffic. Luckily we would be able to come back later at an earlier time and avoid all this.

We also visited Rosenborg castle, built at the end of a big city park, and Kuniko made a pilgrimage to the LEGO store. LEGO started in Denmark, and so it was a special visit to see the store and look around. Kuniko was hoping to buy a Star Wars stormtrooper keychain to replace the one she has carried for many years, but unfortunately they didn’t have any – only Kylo Ren. Bummer!

Afterwards we visited the Stroget area of Copenhagen, which is filled with old stone buildings, cobblestone streets and various shops. There were a lot of tourists here, but we turned one corner and ran across one of those charming squares built around a fountain, a big oak tree, and surrounded by outdoor tables and umbrellas for people to eat, drink and relax. We instantly knew we wanted to hand out here, so we picked a restaurant with a nice menu, and sat down to an early dinner. In Denmark the traditional food we wanted to try was smorrebrod (open-faced sandwiches). Kuniko ordered one covered with little shrimp, and I had a tartar classic – raw beef, capers, an egg yolk, and onions and greens. Both sandwiches were excellent, and we had some Danish beers to wash them down.

Sitting on the square was great – I love when we can find places like this. Since I wanted to stay a little longer we extended our order with a couple glasses of wine, and enjoyed the cool weather and just watched people passing by for a while.

Eventually we decided to head back towards our hotel. On the way we passed by the train station again, and decided to try some hot dogs (also traditional Danish food) at a stand that was set up outside the station. We ordered two – one was just “rod polse” that I heard was the most traditional (but it wasn’t that exciting) and another (I forget the name) that had a bun, lots of relish and fried onions, and it knocked our socks off. Wow – so good!

We cut through the station to get back to the hotel, and passing by the exotic underwear shops we went back up to our room and called it a day. The plan: get up early tomorrow and beat all the tourists to the most popular sightseeing spots!

One of the things that I had heard about Iceland was that many people go there for the nightlife. Maybe because the sun is up for so long, or maybe it is the luxury lifestyle, but nightclubs are supposed to be big here. As it turned out, I heard correctly. We were on the second floor of our hotel, and now on then while we were sleeping I was awoken by noise from across the street. There was a nightclub nearby, and the euro beat and laughing and dancing was loud enough to disturb my sleep. It didn’t help that we went to bed so early, but despite all the noise we did manage to get enough sleep.

At this hotel we had breakfast included, so we went downstairs once it opened and had a light meal. Nothing special to report at this breakfast – they had the typical stuff like yogurt, cheese, cold cuts and coffee. They did have a sign advertising the local delicacy that we wanted to try – fermented shark – but we decided to look for it elsewhere. We got the coffee out of an automatic machine, and tried to wake ourselves up for some sightseeing.

We spent our morning walking two big circles around the town of Reykjavik. The weather was sunny, the sky was clear and blue, and the temperature was brisk but not quite cold. It was perfect weather for doing a lot of walking and we managed to see just about everything we wanted to see on foot. One of the most impressive sights was the Hallgrimskirkja cathedral, overlooking the city on the hillside. We arrived too early for it to be open but we took some nice pictures and enjoyed the solitude of being up there before the crowds. From there we walked down the hill to the waterfront, and got a chance to see the Sun Voyager, an artistic structure resembling a Viking ship on the northern coast of the city. We walked farther along the coast, breathing in fresh air and feeling totally refreshed, and came to the Harpa Amphitheater, a uniquely designed building that hosts major cultural events in town. It looked very modern against a backdrop of mountains and sea to the north. Occasionally a cruise ship or fishing boat would sail into town, and even these big ships looked tiny against a background as dramatic as the rocky shores of Iceland.

All this walking had us thirsty for a cold beer, but it was still too early for that. Instead we did another complete loop through the small town, this time stopping in at the places that were closed the first time. We went into the cathedral, and took an elevator to the top of the steeple for beautiful views of the city. The interior of the cathedral was rather plain white and they went with a simple theme, but the organ was huge and looked pretty intense. Speaking of huge organs, we skipped a visit to the Icelandic Phallological Museum, and instead went next door to check out the smallish food hall there. Unfortunately the food was mainly international dishes – nothing local that we could try out.

We stopped in at the hotel for a little break and then walked down to the harbor area to try to visit Sea Baron, a small little restaurant that serves only lobster soup and fish grilled on skewers. We had been by here the previous day but there had been a long line, so this time we arrived 15 minutes before they opened, and we were the only ones waiting. They were nice enough to open a few minutes early and let us in, and before we knew it we had two steaming bowls of lobster soup in front of us, with skewers on the way. The soup was really, really good. It was filled with big chunks of lobster and with a rich broth that made you use the bread they gave us to soak up every drop. The monster skewers of white fish were excellent as well – the fish was called “tusk”.

A little while after we arrived some Chinese tourists came in, and while they were waiting for their food they all looked at their smartphones in silence – it was a weird vibe. We finished up there, and walked to the end of the harbor to a local brewery, called Bryggian Brugghus, for a flight of all the beers that they make. They poured us six tasters of beer and we sat in comfortable chairs in the very stylish brewery bar and sampled them all. Of the six, we liked the English Ale and the Pale Ale, but they were all quite tasty. For the first time we were sitting and relaxing in a very modern atmosphere, listening to modern music instead of the 80’s pop music that had been following us around. I didn’t notice how often the 80’s music popped up until we sat there at the bar and heard the smooth hip-hop playing on their music system. It was a nice change of pace for us.

Feeling very pleasant and relaxed we walked back through town, past the Icelandic Punk Rock Museum, and started to look at restaurant menus in search of fermented shark. I had heard that it was one of those must try foods, and despite what you are about to read I’m really glad we tried it. One shop had an English menu out front, and sure enough the fermented shark was on there, so we went inside and grabbed a table. Working on the assumption that it would taste terrible, we also ordered a small bowl of mussels in cream sauce, and two Icelandic beers. The restaurant was a little on the upscale side, but they didn’t mind that we were taking a food challenge there.

Our beers and food arrived, and the first sign of trouble was that the fermented shark arrived in a sealed glass jar. I can’t recall ever being served food in a restaurant that was in a container you had to open. We prepared our stomachs, wrinkled our noses, and twisted off the lid. No big cloud of horrible smell came out, and my confidence briefly rose, but once you stuck your nose in there you got a slight whiff of something – ammonia? Sour fish? The chunks of shark were cut into cubes so it was easy to take a bite-sized piece. I popped a piece or two in my mouth, and at first you kind of brace for something terrible, but up front there isn’t a bad taste. And then suddenly, an intense ammonia flavor comes in, and spreads throughout your mouth, up your nostrils and down your throat. I chugged some beer to clear it but it takes some time – and that was just one little chunk. Kuniko also tasted it, and after a few more morbid bites we closed the container and sent the remaining five or six pieces back. Luckily the mussels were much better, and that was the flavor that was lingering on our tongues as we left the restaurant.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped in to look at the local branch of Flying Tiger – a store that began in Copenhagen that is similar to a 100 yen store but with slightly more stylish things. Their store in Reykjavik had some interesting stuff, and Kuniko almost bought some cocktail napkins decorated with crayfish, but I urged her not to buy them here as Iceland is so expensive, and our next city would be Copenhagen itself – it’d be much cheaper and easy to find. It turns out I was wrong.

For dinner that night we walked down the hillside like locals and went to a restaurant called “Messinn” which specialized in skillets of seafood. You choose the kind of fish, and then they cook it for you in a skillet with a various sauces and then add veggies along with it and serve the whole hot skillet to you at your table. We drank more Icelandic beers and Kuniko had a skillet of Atlantic char with a honey nut sauce, potatoes and greens, and I had wolf-fish with a nutty cream sauce and veggies. While we were there a foodie tour came through – a big group of people who didn’t really know each other and sat in a circle in the back of the restaurant – it was kind of cult-y vibe. They all did self-introductions while sampling some dishes, and then a while later they all left for the next restaurant. For dessert we had a chocolate cake with an excellent molten-like texture with vanilla ice cream, and I had an espresso to balance it all out. Yum!

Since we were planning on a very, very early wake up the next day we went and did a little shopping for snacks for the trip, and then went back to the hotel. I knew that we had to wake up at 2:00 am the next day, so I found myself in bed, with the sun shining through the curtains right into my eyes, trying to sleep. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I fell asleep, but was jolted back awake now and then by the nightclub next door – screaming, singing, broken glass. It was a rough night sleep-wise.

We went out for our usual coffee and breakfast, back again to the busy café that was much less busy this morning. We had a tuna melt with our coffees, then went back to the hotel to make the most of our room until we had to check out. Having a clean toilet and free Wi-Fi is a luxury you shouldn’t pass up while traveling.

We checked out of the hotel, and caught a bus to the airport almost immediately, right across the street from our hotel. We used bus route 747 to get to the airport, and this time we sat on the upper deck and enjoyed the views as we traveled. Around us the chatter of people was surprisingly loud – everyone was excited about traveling somewhere from the airport. It is interesting to see the contrast with Japan, where the bus is always silent going or coming from the airport.

I ordered one last Guinness at the airport while we waited for our flight at an airport bar. Next to us was an interesting group of nerdy people meeting for the first time judging from all the awkward pauses in their conversation. It was an international bunch of people, speaking English all with different accents, and I wondered if there was a technology or gaming convention somewhere nearby. Eventually we figured we had killed enough time at the bar and we went upstairs to the departure check-in lines.

Unfortunately there were no staff checking in passengers at our gate, and after waiting about a half hour one staff showed up and started working. Still, the whole plane was waiting in line, and at the rate she was working that one staff member wouldn’t be able to get us all checked in. About an hour later more staff showed up, but it was a very long wait in line and we were both glad we had a chance to get a drink before we started waiting. Security was also not so organized, and so my last impression of Dublin International Airport was not a positive one.

While waiting to board Kuniko and I worked on some snacks that we had accumulated during our travels so far – shamrock and sour cream flavored potato chips (not so shamrocky) and a package of choco-pies that were high in calories but low in satisfaction. Finally we could board our Iceland Air flight to Reykjavik and we got two seats right across from the boarding door. A guy in front of us went up into business class and then came back, telling the flight attendant that he bought a business class ticket but having no proof he had to sit with the rest of the schmucks in economy.

Iceland Air was a pretty stingy airline. Despite being a full-fledged airline (not a low-cost carrier) they were selling earphones to passengers (rather than giving them out like other airlines) and charging for drinks and snacks. It was only a couple of hours in the air so no problem, but still, pretty lame. One strange moment came when the door was closed and then suddenly someone from outside started knocking on the plane door, so they had to re-open it. Apparently someone was missing from the roster, but they confirmed they were onboard, and then the closed the door again.

Another odd thing was the flight attendant’s fold down seat was positioned right next to mine, and since she was facing the back of the plane it was an awkward sort of situation were eye contact was unavoidable. I thought I should ask a question to break the, uh, ice, so I asked about the bus tickets available for sale on the plane. I had bought some online but I was wondering how much they were on the plane to see if I got a good deal. The flight attendant didn’t know the price, but promised to find out for me. Later she gave me the information and sighed loudly and actually rolled her eyes when I said I didn’t want to buy the tickets at this time. Like I said – awkward! But it was kind of cool to sit up near the front of the plane and see all this drama that we usually miss in the back.

It was just a two hour flight from Dublin to Reykjavik, Iceland, and the line at immigration was quite short. Our suitcase was already on the carousel when we got there, and we went outside and got right on our bus that I had online tickets for. It is a long way from the airport to the center of town – about 45 minutes – so the bus was essential. It was still expensive, about $30/person each way. Despite the high price, the bus wouldn’t leave until it was completely full. Our full size bus had five open seats, so we had to sit and wait about 20 more minutes until another flight came in, and then we got our five people and we could go.

The drive from the airport to the city center was like a bus trip across the moon. The landscape quickly became desolate and empty, and the odd shaped rocks and lack of plants really contributed to a kind of “other world” feeling. As we traveled northeast from the airport the ocean was on our left, a calm sea of dark, deep blue. On the right were ridges and rocks cracked and pushed together and emptiness as far as we could see. It would be a fun place to go camping if you wanted to get away from it all.

Eventually we came closer and closer to civilization, and then into the city of Reykjavik. Buildings were made of different stuff here – less stone and more wood, with some shops but a big difference from the strip malls of suburban America. The bus dropped us off at the central bus terminal, and from there we were separated into smaller groups and taken by mini-bus to a bus stop close to our hotels. Apparently the city banned buses inside the city center, so the mini-buses drove around the outside and left us as close as possible to our hotel. It was actually pretty close, though – we walked just a block or two before we could check in to our hotel, the Hotel Fron.

Our room in the hotel was big, and nicely designed in a Scandinavian style. To reach our room we actually had to open a side door in the hotel and walk across a balcony to another building, which was kind of odd. Still the room was comfortable and we were excited to be in Iceland. We were also pretty hungry!

So back out into town and on the prowl for something to eat. Our first impression of town was a quaint city square, kind of like the touristy part of Sonoma, but all traffic on foot. The streets were lined with shops, some classy, some touristy, and it was clean and felt safe and comfortable. I had a couple of restaurants on my map that we could try for dinner, but as we walked across town we eliminated them one by one, for various reasons. This place looked too touristy, that place looked too fancy, another place had a big line of people. As we got hungrier and as we walked more we got a little more impatient to eat, and finally we settled on The Lobster House – an historic restaurant perched on the hillside near the downtown area. It was a beautiful building, and we checked the menu and it seemed like the food would be good. We stepped inside and could tell right away this place was upscale, and we probably weren’t dressed for it.

An alien-like female staff member came up and asked if we had reservations and we said that we didn’t as we looked around at many empty tables. She left to check with someone to see if she could seat us, and Kuniko was starting to have second thoughts about the place. After a long time the alien lady came back and said she could put us at a table, and we sat down in a small dining room situated in between the main dining room and a back room filled with a large family group that was speaking a combination of Spanish and English. Our server gave us some bread right away (I guess we looked hungry) and combined with a glass or two of red wine the “hangry” feeling went away and we started to enjoy the experience.

For dinner we started with a plate of Icelandic delicacies (their term): horse meat carpaccio, cucumber jelly, Atlantic char, and thinly sliced whale raw whale meat with beet and seaweed. Maybe a challenge for some people but coming from Japan it was all food we’ve had before and they did a great job with the ingredients. Kuniko’s main dish was excellent – a cod fillet served on lentils with a tomato and carrot lasagna, Mine was a homerun – bacon-wrapped mutton stuffed with dates on a hazelnut sauce, mushroom ravioli, candied carrots, and three lobster tails on the side. It was one of the best dishes of the entire trip – we were eating well! We were afraid that the price would be really expensive, and since all the prices were in ISK instead of dollars, yen or euros, it was kind of hard to guess, but in the end it wasn’t all that expensive compared with eating at a nice restaurant in Japan. Our server was much friendlier than the alien-like being who had seated us, and she kept up conversation and gave us a free round of drinks to be nice. I left a cash tip after Kuniko paid by credit card, and learned later that tipping isn’t a custom in Iceland. Oh well! It was a mind-blowing meal, and we left in a state of food-euphoria.

After dinner we walked around a bit as the sun was still out (and it stayed out for most of the night), and we bought some Icelandic yogurt (called skyr) and some water at a local convenience store, and there went back to the room to get some rest. Changing countries is always exciting and today was a good day.

Once again we got up on the early side, this time to arrive in time for an appointment for entry to the Trinity University’s Library. Long ago I had seen a photo of the “long room” in the old university library, and it looked beautiful. I was hoping to see it for myself. We ate a quick breakfast of coffee and a blueberry muffin served to us by a couple of chatty middle-aged ladies working at a café. It was surprising to see all the commuters walking to work today. Yesterday was a public holiday and so the streets had seemed empty, but today we were walking around during the morning rush. I noticed that there was a very heterogeneous mix of races in Dublin, even more so than what I remember from big cities in the USA.

The university campus is active and open to visitors, so we spent a little time walking around and seeing the sights. It felt a little like going back to school, except that no actual university students would be up this early. There was already a tour group waiting in line outside the library when we arrived, and the tour conductor was telling story after story to his captive audience. His tour group seemed hesitant to ask questions, and I could tell the tour conductor was starting to sweat as he ran out things to talk about. Right after we lined up behind that tour group another tour group lined up behind us, so we were sandwiched between tourists. Once the doors opened up, the advantage was ours as the tour guides wanted to show all the preliminary exhibits to build up to the old library, but we could head there straightaway. The “Long Room” of the University Library was impressive, indeed. We had the room to ourselves for just a little while, and I tried to make the most of the silence. The bookshelves stretched a long distance, decorated by marble busts of famous university graduates. In the center of the room some particular documents were showcased in glass. We also got to see Brian Boru’s Harp, an historical harp that apparently wasn’t actually Brian Boru’s, however the legend kind of followed the harp until it was generally considered true.

We left via the gift shop, and had some good laughs looking at the photos of the fashion models wearing each piece of Trinity U. apparel. One particular model was featured prominently, wearing an afro and a smile (both huge) in each picture – we loved that he looked nothing like a fashion model and was clearly enjoying his job.

For one more traditional Irish dish we had to go get a full Irish breakfast at Gallagher’s Boxty, a breakfast café located at the heart of the cobblestone streets of the Temple Bar area. I ordered a pint of beer to make the breakfast even more hearty. The full Irish breakfast was similar to the full English breakfast we had eaten during previous trips. There was bacon, eggs, sausage, white and black pudding, a roasted tomato, and (the reason that we had come here) boxty – a kind of potato pancake. Kuniko had a lighter meal of avocado toast, but we were damn full by the end of our brunch. While we ate I had a nice view of a pub across the way, and a guy sleeping under some cardboard boxes in the alley next door. The pub owner came into work, saw the sleeping guy, and a few minutes later a policewoman appeared and rousted the (hungover? homeless?) guy onto his feet and had him moving down the way. We did see quite a few beggars/homeless around Dublin during our short stay.

The rest of the afternoon we did a little shopping around town. Kuniko bought some warmer clothes for Iceland at H&M, and we also bought some cheese at Sheridan’s cheese shop which had been closed the previous day. The cheese shop was located in a fairly nice part of town – lots of expensive shops and hotels around. The cheese wasn’t that expensive at all – I bought some Irish creamy blue cheese and it was only 2 euros for 100 grams. I would have to pay ten times that in Japan for high quality cheese. While we were out we also walked through a nice park, Saint Stephen’s Green, to get a little nature into our day. The weather was threatening a bit so we went back to our hotel but again found our room uncleaned as of yet. Once again we went down to the bar to spend a little time. I drank an apple cider (since I don’t get many chances to drink cider in Japan) from a company called Orchard Thieves, and Kuniko had another Roe & Red. By the time we wrapped up at the bar our room was cleaned so we had a little cheese picnic in the room and then took a nap. Peaceful days like this are why we call it a vacation!

In the evening we decided to walk around and look for a place for dinner. To start, we walked in a completely new direction, and I kept my map in my pocket. In this new area, north of the Dublin Spire, we found lots of churches, and many grungy-looking apartments. All over Dublin we found graffiti, especially some we liked featuring a little masked-man luchador. Just like any big city there are some bad parts of town, and we had found one that day. It didn’t feel dangerous, just a little run down.

And then suddenly, a big crowded area of brand shops and shopping malls opened up in front of us. It wasn’t the usual kind of place we like to hang out in our travels, but it was fun to look at what a shopping mall is like in a different country. The mall was pretty crowded, so I guess economically things are going well. In the supermarkets we found abnormally large areas selling freshly baked cakes and sweets, and I noticed that pork was especially cheap in Dublin. The cheese selection at the average shop was much bigger than we’d see in Japan, so another reason to be jealous. As we left the shopping area a surprisingly talented older man was doing a street performance of old show tunes while dancing around. He had a good-sized crowd admiring his performance as we passed by.

For dinner we decided on a place called The Winding Stair. It is located above a bookshop (owned by the same people) and looks out over the River Liffey and Ha’penny Bridge. We arrived too late for lunch and too early for dinner, but the guy said he didn’t mind giving us a table as long as we ordered a couple of dishes to go with our wine. The atmosphere of the place was light and airy, full of distressed old dark wood, with an extensive bar in the corner. We were the only customers at that time – some people tried to come in for just drinks but our staff turned them away because they needed serve food (legally, I guess). We ordered some wine by the glass, and then three appetizers (that were the size of main dishes in Japan). The first was local crab with butter made into a spread and served with Irish soda bread and a green salad. The second appetizer was a creamy seafood chowder, with generous chunks of salmon, scallop, bacon, and some mussels floating around inside. And the third dish was duck leg meat pressed cold into blocks with cherries, pistachios, capers and pickles. All three dishes were excellent, and thanks to the size and variety of dishes it was the best meal of the trip so far.

Eventually we finished up our meal and headed back to the hotel, only stopping once at a small (low budget?) market called “Iceland” to buy some rhubarb yogurt and snacks. There was a security guard standing in the front watching everyone going in and out, and helping the cashiers now and then when they needed something. Once again we had lots of steps – this time 20,229.

I think I first wanted to visit Ireland back in the mid-nineties while drinking Guinness with Brian Haven in Murphy’s pub back in Sonoma. Two of the servers were Irish and had great accents, and we used to throw darts and drink round after round of Guinness, and I thought that someday I’d like to see where this kind of pub culture came from. It took a while, but here I was in Dublin 25 years later.

Kuniko and I finally got out of bed and started our first full day in Dublin by venturing out in search of coffee. A couple of blocks away from our hotel we found a place that was open, so we walked inside to find a chaotic scene. Apparently there was a big rush on coffee, and one of the two baristas working was in training, and so there was a lot of stress in the café. We waited quite a while, and we finally ended up with one latte instead of two, and a pastrami cheese roll that was pretty good. The trainer barista acknowledged the mistake and gave us another cup of java, and we finished up as the line for service grew longer and longer. Kuniko cleaned up our table after we bused the dishes back to the counter – apparently that isn’t a thing in Ireland because some people gave us a funny look as we left.

One thing we learned quickly in Dublin is that pedestrians cross the street when they think they have a chance. There are crossing signals for pedestrians but they are hopelessly long and so everyone just runs across when they see an opening. It was a little startling at first but soon we got used to it. The city has thoughtfully provided writing on the street for the pedestrians that says “Look left” or “Look right” depending on the traffic flow. I do think that some people distracted by the phones probably get hit more often than in other cities – it looks dangerous. In the end we got used to things and started dashing out into the streets along with the locals.

Our first appointment of the day was a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. I had made some reservations in advance, and so we walked across town to go check out the tour. On the way we stopped in at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The cathedral was as beautiful inside as it was outside, and they had made the interior tourist friendly with plenty of educational materials to explain exactly why each religious icon or design was special. It is one thing to see a stained glass window, but they had explanations to the side that clearly showed the significance of some of the details, and it helped to appreciate things more. The gift shop was really big – bigger than most I’ve seen in churches in Europe. They had some extremely cheesy goods, and I thought at the time that it was an oddly blatant crossing between consumerism and religion.

The Guinness Storehouse is not the brewery (which is at a separate facility down the street) but instead a huge complex built to showcase the beer, educate the visitors, and sell lots of Guinness goods. The design of the facility and the quality of the tour is top-notch. The way it is designed is that you start on the ground floor, and slowly work your way up via a series of escalators, learning more and more as you go. There are several tastings along the way that we enjoyed, with some good-natured fun poked at Americans by the staff. The final stage is a pint of fresh Guinness at the top floor which is a circular bar room enclosed in glass offering a dramatic view of the skyline of Dublin. The place was busy but not packed when we reached it, and it nice to have a beer and enjoy the view. There was a big group of Chinese tourists visiting at that time, and they moved as a pack and were making friends with some of the white (European?) tourists. Many pictures were taken all around, and when we left the place was just starting to fill up. On the way out we stopped in the gift shop for a couple of souvenirs – we were good customers.

From the Storehouse we headed east back toward the center of town. On the way I had hoped to stop at a highly recommended fish and chips place, but it was closed for the summer holidays. We instead stopped at another pub, the Boar’s Head Inn. If you want traditional food, pubs are the way to go in Ireland, and there’s one on almost every corner – open all day long. We had a some good fish and chips there, and also a bowl of Irish stew that hit the spot. Everything was heavy – much heavier food than we usually eat, and this was only the beginning of a long trip. While we were out we went to check out Dublin Castle, but what remained of the building wasn’t too exciting, so it was a short visit. When we returned to our hotel our room wasn’t cleaned yet, so we visited the hotel bar which was surprisingly nice, and sat at one of the back tables to drink, write in this journal, and relax. I had a Rockshore Lager that was simple but delicious, and Kuniko had a cocktail called Roe & Red. It was based on Irish whiskey and it was tasty, even with a big cinnamon stick stuck in the glass.

Eventually we went back out on the town, first to check out a cheese shop (closed because it was a “bank holiday”), and then we found our way to Klaw, our choice of restaurant for the evening. Klaw is a seafood place, and I had heard that they had plenty of lobster on the menu. We arrived a bit early for dinner, and they were only serving drinks and oysters. We ordered some prosecco and reviewed the menu, but the service was quite slow. One of the things about visiting Europe is that it takes a little time to shift our expectations on service speed – things are much more prompt in Japan. I don’t mind the slower service, but it does take a little getting used to.

We ordered up some food, starting with some oysters. Due to a miscommunication during the ordering process we received a couple raw oysters and a couple that were “blowtorched” at our table. The torched oysters had some spinach, cheese, butter, and garlic melted together over them, and then we ate them cooked. The raw ones were also good – from the Galway coast. We also had an order of crab on toast that was great. Unfortunately the lobster roll was mainly roll, and not much lobster. That was the only culinary disappointment of the day. After dinner we walked through the Temple Bar area, kind of a historic pub/tourist area, passed a strange building on the backstreets with a sign saying, “Turkish Social Club”, and then eventually wandered back to our hotel to head to bed. We finished the day with about 27,000 steps!

Because we were so excited about our summer trip we woke up a bit earlier than usual, at 4:15 am, and started prepping the house for the two weeks that it would sit empty in the summer heat. We’ve got a comprehensive checklist worked out by now, so we knocked out the tasks quickly. We rolled out with our suitcase into the humidity and headed to the train station, already sweating even before sunrise. Taking the first train out of Okubo, when we arrived at the bus line in Sannomiya it was surprisingly crowded. We elected to take the second bus, avoiding having to sit in the extra capacity center seats that are both uncomfortable and solitary.

The result of our early start was that we arrived more than three hours before our departure. Usually the departure check-in lanes are posted on the board about three hours before the flight, but for some reason there was a delay in posting our flight on Singapore Airlines. For a short time there was a little tinge of fear that we had arrived at the airport on the wrong day – or that I had misread an email or something. But in the end we found our way to the check in line, and thanks to our online check in we could skip much of the waiting.

Our first leg was a 6 1/2 hour flight to Singapore – piece of cake. We slept a bit on the flight, and the video system was a newer model and filled with interesting movies and music to keep us occupied. Upon arrival at Singapore’s Changi Airport we had a fair amount of time (7 hours!) to kill before the next leg of the journey, so we set about exploring. The airport had recently completed a new expansion, called “Jewel”, but unfortunately it was located outside security, so we’d have to officially enter the country, and then leave the country and go through security all over again if we wanted to visit. We figured we’d save Jewel for the return trip. Instead we focused on a search for the salted egg steamed buns that I am so addicted to. Just after entering the transfer area we saw a restaurant with a big electronic sign that flashed a sexy picture of a salted egg bun breaking open, and so we went right over and sat down at the table. Upon consultation with our server, we discovered that they no longer serve the salted egg buns and we’d have to find something else on the menu. Rather than waste a chance, we left the table and moved on.

We are picky about food, so it took a while to survey the food choices of nearly the entire airport. We stopped for a cold beer at a “sports bar” located in one of the terminals, and had an IPA made by a craft brewery in Singapore. It was easy drinking (although expensive) and it gave us the energy to keep up the food search. While we were drinking our beers at the bar a customer came in and after reviewing her options on the draft beers she ordered the same thing we were drinking, although she said, “I’ll have an E-pa”. It took me a second to realize that she was pronouncing the “I” as an “E”, but the server didn’t even flinch and served it up to her right away. It would be hard for me to resist the education opportunity here but the server was a real professional. Kuniko and I were joking about “E-pas” during the rest of the trip.

Finally we discovered a restaurant that served mini-sized salted egg buns, and so we ate those with some Hong Kong-style noodles. We washed them down with another beer at a brew-pub. Kuniko had a Singapore Sling, mixed up by a cool lesbian bartender/DJ who was very friendly and intently focused on choosing the next song to play in the bar.

Back on an airplane, and this time for a long haul. The flight from Singapore to Amsterdam was 13 hours or so, and I was eager to get some shut-eye. We had a cabin attendant that was really pro-active about customer service, and we heard her say to another passenger that it was her first flight. True or not, she made sure to wake me up every time she walked past with a hot towel, food, drink, extra blankets, whatever. Let me sleep!

Because it was a long flight I couldn’t sleep through all of it, but thanks to the great video system we kept ourselves entertained. I was in a middle seat between Kuniko at the window and a fairly aggressive old guy who was made extra effort to dominate the armrest between us. He also had the “old guy smell” which wasn’t pleasant but I hated to think what I smelled like after the distance that we’d come from Japan.

Finally, we arrived at Amsterdam airport. But even after all that travel, we still had one more flight to catch. We waited for about four hours in the airport to catch our KLM flight to Dublin. Since our next flight was on a different airline we had to claim our suitcase, and then bring it back in through security. The KLM area at Amsterdam airport had an interesting self-check baggage system, where you had to wait in line to use an automatic machine. The machine apparently broke down quite a bit – about half the windows were shut down with notices saying it was out of order, so it took a long time to get rid of our bag again. But these kinds of situations are exactly why we left a four hour window for this stopover – tight connections mean more stress and risk. We had a premium tuna sandwich and some red wine, did some shopping for souvenirs (they had lots of cheese available at the airport shops – that was a good sign), and then caught our flight to Dublin.

After a 13 hour flight a 2 hour flight feels like a blink of the eye. I watched from the window as we flew over English and came in on approach in Dublin, Ireland – our final stop for the day. The immigration line was very short, but there were surprisingly many questions: “Where did you come from?” “Where are you going from here?” “How many days in each country?” “Why are you traveling to Ireland?” Usually there are hardly any questions at all so it was kind of refreshing to experience.

We picked up our suitcase and went outside to catch a big double decker bus into town. Just as we got on the bus it started to sprinkle, but the rain stopped soon after, and by the time we got off near the Busaras Station 30 minutes later, there was a clear sky above us. We checked into the Beresford Hotel right across from the bus station, and went up to our room. What followed was one of the best showers I’ve ever taken. Hard to believe that we had been traveling for more than 24 hours!

Off we went to see about dinner. It was late afternoon when we arrived in Dublin, so we went to Madigan’s Pub, a place I found recommended on the web which wasn’t far from the hotel. We ordered a couple of Guinness beers, and I had a bacon and cabbage plate, which was a very heavy but delicious meal. Kuniko went with the somewhat lighter salmon sampler plate. It felt good to be relaxing in a pub – the interior was very traditional with wood paneling, a copper gilded bar, and (strangely) 80’s American pop music on the music system. People came and went outside to smoke, and the group in the back of the pub was lively. We sat in a booth up front, drinking our beers and feeling exhausted.

After our meal we decided to walk around a tiny bit and get a feel for the sightseeing that we might do later on. We did get in a little walk, but quickly our energy levels faded so we went back to the hotel and went to bed around 4:30 pm. It was great to lie down in a fully horizontal position. We didn’t stir for about 13 hours – it was one hell of a travel day.