It is that time of year when the weather really starts to turn the corner and it gets positively cool outside. I’m happy about that because it means that I can sleep through the night without using an air conditioner. It means that I’m starting to wear long sleeve dress shirts and neckties again. And it also means that it is typhoon season again.

Last weekend we had a middle sized typhoon come through, but as it happened it turned a little to the south of us and kind of petered out. The next typhoon is due at the end of this weekend. It is supposed to be bigger than the last one, so I’ll spend some time tomorrow tying some things down to make sure they don’t fly away.

Since it is my birthday tomorrow Kuniko is taking me out to dinner in Osaka. We’re trying an Italian restaurant recommended by one of Kuniko’s foodie friends, and I’m hoping to eat lots of Napoli style pizza. Hopefully they’ll have a good wine list as well. I’m not sure what else we’ll be doing in Osaka, since we were just in town last weekend enjoying the usual amusements. It’ll be fun to explore, though.

This has been an unusual week at work. The previous term kind of died down in the beginning of the week, there was a two day pause in the schedule in the middle, and today I’m kicking off the new students. It feels weird to start a new term on a Friday, but oh well.

There are some familiar faces in my next batch of students, and I’m looking forward to getting to know the unfamiliar ones. Also, starting next week I’ll have small group lessons with the new employees, and I’ll have to see how that goes. Especially working with small groups it can sometimes be hard to plan for the class time. Hopefully I can keep everyone talking in a balanced way during class.

Tonight after work Kuniko has a beer drinking party with one of her friends, and I’m going to also drink beer somewhere else with a former student. This weekend will be pretty calm, I think. There is a chance of heading into Osaka for some shopping and a doctor’s appointment, but otherwise I’ll probably be lounging around Saturday and Sunday.

A typhoon is supposed to be headed this way early next week. That should make for an interesting start to the term.

This has been a pretty good week, for a lot of reasons. On Tuesday after work I took a train to Himeji to have a celebration dinner with Kuniko, her parents, and her sister and her husband. The reason we were celebrating was because Kuniko’s dad’s insurance policy included a lot of money to take the family out for a party once he got out of the hospital. So we arranged to meet at a nice hotel in Himeji and eat dinner in their restaurant.

Almost all major Japanese hotels have a restaurant inside, and for many Japanese people a hotel restaurant is going to be the nicest (and most expensive) restaurant that they will ever visit. This means that hotel restaurants have a license to be expensive, and I’ve rarely had a meal that was worth the price they charge. In addition, the staff are usually not friendly – just stiff and formal. In other words, it is hard to have a good time at these places for me.

However, despite all of this we had a great time, and most of that was due to Kuniko’s dad’s recovery. The last time we saw him we were more than a little worried – he was having trouble speaking, we were having trouble understanding him, and he had trouble with coordination and eating. This time he was almost completely back to normal. With time and effort he has been getting better and we were so glad to see it firsthand. He was obviously very happy to have the whole family together, and it was a great night. And there was a big sigh of relief from all of us.

Wednesday I finished up my school term, and the rest of the week is just some classes here and there to balance out the numbers for students that were on business trips or absent for one reason or another. I have started thinking about the curriculum for the next term’s new employee classes, and since they are a different format there is some more work to be done. The good news is that I have quite a bit of time to get organized over the next few days.

Also I have a new business English conversation course starting on October 1st, and I was a little concerned because the previous course didn’t have many sign ups. In fact, they had to actively recruit (cajole?) some students into joining the class to fill out the roster. Hard to believe that people wouldn’t want to join a free English course being held at your place of work, but it was true. Luckily this time around there were many more applicants than spots, and it won’t be a problem to give me a full set of new students. Every year around this time I wonder if the company will keep me around, and apparently the answer (for next year) is yes.

Kuniko has some big events this weekend, one of which is the culture festival at her school. Preparations are proceeding and students are getting ready. I think I’m going to take a rain check this year and skip the event. Instead I’ll stay home and try to get some exercise, read some books and watch Survivor. It should be a good weekend!

So for the first time in a long time, Kuniko had both days of the weekend off. We tried to make them count, and fit in the maximum amount of relaxation into those two days.

Friday night we went out to Mikaen, our old standby Chinese restaurant. They have moved their original shop into a new location, and now it is more centrally located and easier to find. The food was great as usual, and we tried a couple of new dishes that were unusual. Didn’t try the dog this time, though. Maybe next time.

We were pretty tired after dinner, so instead of staying out late in Sannomiya we did a tiny bit of shopping and then went on home.

Saturday we had the chance to sleep in and really enjoy it. We didn’t really get up until 9 am, which is a good 4-5 hours past when we normally wake up on the weekdays. The temperature and the season is perfect right now for laying in bed, and I think we took advantage of it.

We did some regular grocery shopping in the morning, and then came back home, rolled up our sleeves, and went outside to weed the garden. We’ve been calling it the “black forest” out there, and finally we made some progress in clearing it out. Next we cleaned the house inside, the place was looking perfect by the afternoon. We had some truffle salt omelettes for lunch with sparkling wine for lunch, and then settled in to watch a couple of movies. Very relaxing.

For dinner we tried our hand at making a Francesinha sandwich. We had several in Portugal, and they were really good. We did a pretty good job with the re-creation. We only had two kinds of meat inside – steak and sliced garlic sausage – but the flavor was quite good. I’m not sure if we got the sauce exactly right, but it was delicious nonetheless. Together with a bottle of Spanish red – yum.

Sunday we slept in again, and then we took a walk out to the beach. I’m always up for a trip to the ocean, and it doesn’t take long to walk there. I slipped off my flipflops and walked in the waves and they were surprisingly warm. Lots of good shells and stones on the beach, too. We had blue sky all day on Sunday, which was a surprise – the weather forecast had predicted rain.

On our way back from the beach we stopped at the local furniture store and bought some replacement pillows. Since we had been sweating all summer our old pillows needed a refresh. Then we did some last minute snack shopping and went home.

In the afternoon I received my new mobile phone, replacing my three year old iphone. While I spent time setting it up and getting it operational, Kuniko was busy in the kitchen baking all sorts of goodies. She made maple cookies, chocolate scones, and cheese, bacon and onion bread. All of them were great, and I had the privilege of being able to sample the results.

For dinner we experimented again, this time with tiny little wraps of goat cheese, mint and honey that we baked in the oven. We had extra wraps, so we made a pizza version with a red basilico sauce with Edam cheese. They turned out quite nicely. Since they were baked and not fried they were marginally healthier than what we had first tasted in France, but I liked them a lot.

After dinner we watched one more movie, “Captain America Winter Soldier”, but it was way over the top in terms of action, explosions, and bombastic stories. Maybe something a little more subtle would have served better for the evening.

Now we are back to work, but Kuniko has Tuesday off of work. On Tuesday evening we’ll probably get together with Kuniko’s family and have dinner in Himeji. It all depends on Kuniko’s father’s doctor appointment today – if he gets the OK we’ll be ready to celebrate with him tomorrow.

I just wrapped up three days off, and it was very refreshing. Saturday was cool, clear weather, and I had just some light cleaning duties at home, so it was a prefect day to relax. I took a nap in the afternoon, and with the windows open and a soft cool breeze flowing through the house it is the very definition of relaxation. It is pretty rare when all the conditions are met – and there are a lot of conditions. It is too hot in summer and too cold in winter, and being limited to the weekends makes it even more difficult to find the time. But when things work out, like last weekend, it brings back memories of Greek islands and beaches in Maui.

On Sunday I went into Kobe and got my driver’s license renewed. This time I was eligible for a “gold” license, because I have been a safe driver for the past three years. In actuality, I don’t drive so much, so it is easy to be a safe driver. One of the benefits of a gold license is that you can get it during the weekends, while drivers with a standard license must take a day off of work and go in during the weekdays. It is an interesting point of motivation in Japan where working time seems to be a precious resource.

Also on Sunday we went to visit Yoshi and family for dinner at their place. We had a nice yakitori dinner in their yard, and it was really delicious. They have a source of fresh local chicken on skewers, and Yoshi and I took turns rotating the meat on the little mini-grill that he set up. We had a good time talking with them about their adventures, but we were pretty tired and called it an early night. We are thinking about taking a trip with them to Hong Kong in the future, but nothing is set in stone yet. They are really easy to travel with and like us are pretty food-focused when they visit other countries.

On Monday it was a holiday, and Kuniko finally got a day off, after 16 straight work days. We tried to use it wisely. We mainly stayed at home, snacking and catching up on movies. We went to bed last night very early, at 8:30 am, so the extra sleep should help. Kuniko has an easy week this week, and then two days off next weekend, so things are looking up!

This weekend wasn’t the most exciting one that we’ve had, but it was relaxing for me. Kuniko had to work both days this weekend, so mostly she was on the road. I was at home taking it easy and doing chores, but it was a little lonely around here.

On Saturday night I went over to Paddy, which is the new name for Red Spanky and a place I hadn’t visited in a long time. There are two reasons I don’t go very often – one is that there are a lot of smokers there and I don’t like coming home with that smell in my clothes. The second is that I often make cocktails at home so it isn’t a big deal to order cocktails out.

Despite this, it was good to go over there and see the owner and his staff. We caught up with the latest gossip about the neighborhood, our trips, and the new teacher at the local kids’ English school. I had a martini and a margarita, along with a blue cheese frittata and some Asian fried chicken. Yum!

Tomorrow I’m going to attend a work party in the evening at a beer garden in Kobe. Summer is wrapping up, but we are going to try to squeeze in the beer garden event just before things close up for the season. I haven’t been out with the HR department since the end of last year, so I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again. I work pretty independently in a completely different location than most of them, so it will be a good opportunity. But I’m sure Wednesday morning will be rough…

Now that I’m back in my normal routine at work things are going pretty well. The weather seems to have turned a corner and we can finally see signs of the approach of autumn. The last few evenings we could sleep without the air conditioner running, and that is a great sign.

September is the last month for my current term of students. From October it looks like I’ll be teaching the new employees that joined the company in April of this year, and I’m looking forward to working with them. They are pretty comfortable using English, so I’m going to need to design a curriculum that will challenge them but also not frustrate others that don’t have the same skill level. In the next few weeks we should get the details ironed out and I’ll shift into a completely new style of teaching. Of course I’ll still be teaching about 15 students on a one-on-one basis, which is always my preferred teaching style.

In my spare time I’ve been reading a lot more than usual. I’ve been using a Kindle to read, since I thought a bigger screen and lighter device would be best. I am really liking it, and I’m reading a lot more than I usually do.

Last weekend we received a big bag of unpolished rice from Kuniko’s parents, so we took the bag out to a special shed that houses a machine that polishes rice for you. It cost about 300 yen to polish 30 kg of rice, and that should keep us going well into next year. Hopefully we can finish the rice before any bugs get in there. I don’t mind bugs, actually. Once you boil the rice they are just more protein for the mix, right?

We are back home safely from our trip to Europe.  I spent most of today winnowing down the nearly 1500 pictures down to a more manageable size, and posted them online.  After a few days I’ll start to blog the trip as I go through the journal that I kept.

You can find the pictures here.

We got up at 7 am and I was pretty casual about getting ready.  The shower was a little tricky to figure out, but once we solved the riddle it was comfortable to use.  I took my time because I had completely missed the previous evening’s conversation about getting to the airport.  Kuniko was almost out the door and I was still putting on my underwear.  I got suitably motivated, and met Kuniko in the lobby soon after.  We hurried our suitcases out the door and found the Pullman Hotel down the street.  Across from there were some airport shuttlebuses parked, and we were able to just catch the 8 am shuttle on time.  It was an easy ride to the airport, and we could check in our luggage right away.  We had a last glass of champagne in a lounge near the gate (What time was it? Who cares?), and then we went to the gate.  The plane was on time, and we had a nice easy flight to Shanghai.

In Shanghai we had to pick up our suitcases, which meant going through customs and immigration in China only to go right back into the security and immigration stations.  It was a strange system, but luckily we were not alone – a lot of other people shared in the confusion.

In the end we made our flight with plenty of time to spare, so we ordered a couple of beers at the bar.  We asked for the big Hoeegarden glasses, but belatedly realized they were really big!  I did most of the heavy lifting, since Kuniko was going to be driving once we got back to Japan.

We caught our plane on time, and it went quickly. A two hour flight goes by in the blink of an eye after you finish an 11 hour flight.  Arriving in Kansai airport we were able to get through customs without anybody inspecting our foie gras (we may be August’s biggest importer of foie gras), and then we caught a bus to the ferry terminal.  The ferry took us across to Kobe airport where our car was parked, and we drove home without incident.  Our house was in great shape, and the typhoon that came through the previous week apparently hadn’t damaged anything at our place.  Unfortunately some of the neighbor’s trees were blown over.  We unpacked all our stuff, organized things and started laundry, and then finally opened up our traditional bottle of post-trip sparkling wine.  Home safe and sound!

I know I probably say this after every trip we take, but it was really one of our best trips ever.  Looking back it was hard to believe that on the same trip we were at Big Ben, Stonehenge, the Eiffel Tower, tasting ports in Porto, eating cassoulet in Toulouse and drinking cognac in Cognac, and meeting my family in Paris.  We really packed in a lot of fun and activities, and it felt like just the right amount for us.  Both of us are feeling refreshed after our trip, and we’re already wondering when the next trip will be.  First we’ve got to sort out a few things with our careers.

Another great trip in Europe – we always have fun there and it is becoming clear that the lifestyle suits us very well.  Something to think about for the future…

We could get a good amount of sleep that night, and I didn’t stir until around 7:30 am.  I could have slept longer, but we didn’t know the program for the day and we didn’t want to cause any problems for Fabien’s family.  So up and at ‘em!

Fabien was waiting around for us downstairs, and he was very patient as one by one we all took showers and got organized.  While we were getting ready Fabien gave us some presents to take back home with us.  He gave a lot of stuff to my parents, and they were really happy to receive them, although I didn’t envy them the packing job they’d have at the end of the trip.  Fabien gave us a bottle of his best cognac to take back, so I wrapped it carefully and it made it all the way home to Japan without a problem.

Once we were ready, we went over to have a light breakfast at the main farmhouse kitchen.  Crackers, homemade honey, grape jam, and hot coffee served in little bowls – excellent.  It was a light breakfast that was just perfect for us.  After breakfast Fabien led us on a tour of his farm and distillery.  It was a nice operation, and you could tell that it had a lot of history behind it.  We toured the distilling room, where he had two big pot stills, and also the winemaking operation that had mainly cement tanks but also some new stainless steel tanks being installed. His barrel room was piled high with old and new oak barrels, aging away.  I noticed that he had heavy security around the place, so I guessed that someone was taking the amount of alcohol around here seriously. We also met his other dog, Bullet, who was just as friendly as Baya.  They both looked happy to have visitors.

Finally, we said our goodbyes to the family, and piled our stuff back into the car.  It was a quick visit, but we were really happy to have a chance and see a little bit of Fabien’s life.  I hope that we’ll be able to return the hospitality in Japan someday.

Fabien drove us back to Angouleme station, and wished us a safe journey.  His mom had sent a bag of sandwiches (salami sandwiches and pate sandwiches, yum!) along with lots of water and other goodies for our trip to Paris.  We munched on sandwiches while we waited for our train, and soon enough we were boarding and looking for our seats.  It turned out that a couple of people were in our seats, and so I did my best to explain to them about it in my broken French.  They looked mildly perturbed that we would bother them about it, and they took as long as humanly possible to move so as to try to make us give up, I think.  Finally we could take our seats, and it was just as well since the train was kind of full.

The ride to Montparnasse station wasn’t so long, less than two hours, and we got our gear off the train and started walking down the platform.  Luckily this was the second time Kuniko and I had used the station, since we went to Rennes earlier on the trip on our way to Mont St. Michel.  We knew our way around the station and were able to lead my parents in the right direction.  I had remembered seeing our next hotel, the Waldorf, previously when we had driven by this street, so we were able to find it without too much trouble.

We checked into our room, and Kuniko was especially relieved that the hotel was a good one.  We were worried about how it might turn out since we had two tiny hotel rooms in London and Paris previously.  There was even more pressure because not only my parents were staying here, but also Nancy and Lynn and Roger and his parents were coming from Switzerland.  But the rooms were spacious, clean and modern, and it worked out perfectly.

Everyone kind of gravitated to the lobby, and we were finally able to see Nancy and Lynn, who had been in Switzerland with Roger and his parents.  They looked tuckered out – I guess they had done a lot of sightseeing and cave spelunking.  It was great to see Roger again after 4-5 years, and to meet his parents who spoke no English but didn’t let that get in the way.  We had kind of a party in the lobby before we figured we should take it outside and go get some wine.

Somehow I was appointed “herder of cats” which is not my favorite job in the world.  I guessed that perhaps Roger had more experience in Paris, but as it turned out we were fine.  I walked everyone down the street until we found a brasserie that looked like it had a lot of empty seats, and they tucked us into a corner.  The waitress spoke enough English to handle the drink order, and soon everyone was quaffing vino and catching up with each other.  Kuniko and I sat right next to Roger, and it was good to talk to him and hear how he was doing.  To be honest I think we were a little tired so it was tough to keep the conversation going, but the wine was helping.

For our next stop I think people wanted to have a little food with their wine, so we walked along the street until we found a place that agreed to serve us a “pre-dinner”.  The waiter reminded me that unless we ordered food he couldn’t help us, but the menu had some cheese and sausages on it, and that proved to be the perfect amount.  I really enjoyed one of the dishes we ordered, goat cheese wrapped in a grilled eggplant with a pesto sauce, and there was a ton of fresh bread to fill us up, too.  I ordered a bottle of red, but the server said that I shouldn’t order it with the food that we had – it would be too bold and tannic.  I was hoping for bold and tannic, but I relented to his opinion.  The wine he substituted was really good on its own, and I was glad he overrode my order.

Roger was busy talking with his parents, my parents were busy talking with Nancy and Lynn, so there really wasn’t much for Kuniko and I to do.  Maybe it was the seating arrangement, or maybe everybody had been on some exciting adventures, and they were eager to talk about what happened to them, so a good thirty minutes passed while we remained pretty much invisible.  So Kuniko and I switched to Japanese and kept each other company.  Eventually everyone else kind of ran out of steam, and then they were looking to us for setting up the next activity.

We figured we’d go back to the hotel for a short break, and then hit the streets and try to go check out the Eiffel Tower.  Kuniko volunteered to be the navigator of the Paris Metro, Roger was acting as her copilot, and we were off!  As we went down the stairs into the metro I noticed that the clouds were really rolling in, but I had no idea that it would be a big deal later on.

First we bought tickets at the machine for where we wanted to go, but unfortunately the station nearest the Eiffel Tower was under construction.  Instead we had to take an indirect route, using two train systems instead of one.  Luckily Kuniko really knows her way around public transportation, and she guided us in the right direction easily.

We lined up for the train on the platform, and then started getting on when it arrived.  Suddenly, disaster! The platform had some outer doors to prevent people from jamming up the train, and apparently about half our party was still outside the train when they started to close.  My mom’s foot got caught in the gap, and she went down, and meanwhile the train doors closed on us.  We were left with nothing to do but hope that her foot wasn’t close to the train as it departed.  Nancy, Lynn, Kuniko and I were in the train, the rest of the gang were with my mom, so we rode it to the next station and then got off and went back.  Nancy was panicking, but I think we reassured her enough that she was OK to get back.  When we arrived back at the original station Kuniko saw the rest of our group leaving on the next train, so we were happy to see that Mom was OK.  Lynn joked that there was no blood or feet on the platform when we arrived, and we caught up with everyone at the next station.  Welcome to the hustle and bustle of public transportation!  Mom was OK, just a little damage to her pride.  She was a trouper and kept up the pace the rest of the evening.

From this station we changed to an RER train, and that took us to the closest Eiffel Tower station.  When we came up out of the station there was a lot of rain!  It was really coming down.  The good news was that Kuniko had brought an umbrella, the bad news was that she was the only person that did.  We walked a short way in the rain until we reached the tower and then found shelter underneath.  Luckily the impressiveness of the tower helped people overcome the rain.  Even better, it was just before the top of the hour so we had everyone stick around and watch the tower sparkle a little bit.  It was great that everyone could be there, rain and all.

We took in the view of the Siene River, and then we had to figure out where to go for dinner.  We were a wet group of wild foreigners with limited mobility, so I kind of ruled out a nice restaurant straight away.  Instead I remembered that our previous hotel was nearby, and there were some casual restaurants in the area.  In the end we found ourselves on Rue du Universite hitting a cornerside brasserie.  They had a table for our big party inside, and we all sat down and took a look at the menu.  This was our last dinner in Paris for a long time, so Kuniko and I decided to stick with French dishes, but everyone else ordered stuff all over the board.  Hamburgers, steaks, lasagna, salmon – everything was fair game.  Kuniko had a quiche that was better than I expected, and I had goat cheese on toast – I couldn’t get enough of the goat cheese on this trip.

Someone pointed out that I had some bird crap on my sleeve.  Oh no!  It must have been one of the risks of seeking shelter under the Eiffel Tower in the rain.  Later I found some more on the back of my shirt.  Blessed by the pigeons of Paris, I guess.

Once again Kuniko and I were seated away from the conversations, and so we ordered a couple of glasses of champagne, toasted the end of our trip, and enjoyed each other’s company.  Even though we were surrounded by people, it felt like it was just us wrapping up the trip together.

I figured that we wouldn’t want to face public transportation again after the last episode, and guessing that it would be best to keep my Mom off her ankle to give them more chance at mobility the next day, we arranged for three taxis to come and pick us up.  I talked to each driver and gave them the destination, and we got back in less than 10 minutes.  Much quicker and simpler than the trains (and probably safer, too).

In the lobby we took one last group photo, and then said our goodbyes.  Everyone else was staying for one more day in Paris before heading on to Switzerland to stay near Roger’s hometown, and also they are planning a night in Zermatt.  I know they’ll have a great time.  After our goodbyes we headed straight up to bed.  Apparently Kuniko and I discussed how to get to the airport, but I was drifting in and out of sleep and completely missed the conversation the next day.

It seemed like we had just lay down to sleep, and already our alarm was going off.  During our usual workdays we get up at 4:30 am, so it wasn’t crazy for us to get up at this time, but it was not easy.  While we were getting ready we heard a knock on the door, and it was my dad saying that it was raining pretty hard outside, and maybe we should order a taxi.  Good idea!  I ran downstairs and asked the staff to order up a taxi for 5:30 am.

At 5:20 am everyone was in the lobby, in various states of consciousness, ready to go.  Outside it was dark and wet, but it seemed like the rain had stopped.  With a train departure at 6:05 am we didn’t want to make the wrong decision, so we waited for the cab.  Unfortunately it didn’t show at 5:30, and everyone was starting to get a little nervous.  I walked outside looking for a cab to hail, but at that hour they were few and far between.  The hotel clerk called several other taxi companies, and finally around 5:40 a cab showed up.  We piled our luggage into the cab and she drove like a madwoman to the station.  What a relief!  I noticed while riding that the fare meter was running much faster than normal, so they must have a special rate for desperate tourists in the wee hours of the morning.

So we made the train on time, got our luggage in a good spot, and everyone settled into their seats.  The first hour of the TGV journey was pretty dark, but soon enough the sun came up and the rain disappeared.  We rode for about two hours, and then changed trains at Bordeaux.  We had ten minutes to change, and it turned out to be barely enough time.  Once we got to our seats we opened up some supplies and had a simple breakfast.  It was one hour from Bordeaux to Angouleme, and the time went by quickly.  The French countryside is always nice to watch, and we could always take a nap if we needed it.

The station at Angouleme was where we were to meet Fabien, who was my parents’ first intern years ago.  We dragged our suitcases down the platform, carried them down the stairs, went across to the main station, carried them up the stairs, and then went out front to look for Fabien.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t there.

We waited a few minutes before starting to look around for WiFi connections and double check our communications, but suddenly he appeared and everything was OK.  It was my first time to meet him, and he seemed like a really friendly guy, with excellent English.  He took us over to his car and miraculously all of our luggage fit in perfectly.  We drove through Angouleme and on to Cognac to our first sightseeing stop of the day, Hennessy.  On the way, we passed through so many vineyards, I felt like we were driving around California.  This time we were traveling in a completely different wine country.

Fabien sells most of the cognac that he makes to Hennessy, so it was a natural choice for a tour and tasting.  The tour was very nicely done.  We took a boat ride across a small river to where they age some of their cognac in barrels and casks, and then enjoyed a movie that explained the process without words that was very nicely done.  They had a lot of nice dramatic effects during the tour, and we learned a lot about the process that they go through.  Of course, Fabien had arranged the tour in English.  He thought of everything!

At the tail end of the tour we were led to a tasting room, and we could try several different brands of Hennessy cognac.  Fabien advised us that we would taste some of his own very old cognac at his house later, so at Hennessy we tried only some of the younger ones.  The guide suggested mixing some of the younger cognac with either ginger ale or tonic water (which I think they called “Indian tonic”).  One of the cognacs that they were selling in the tasting room was more than 700 euros a bottle – for the big spenders!

After spending time tasting the cognac we walked a little bit around the old historic town, which was pretty much empty.  The buildings were all bleached white, and made a nice contrast with the blue skies and green trees nearby.  It was a really nice area to spend some time.  From here we left town and drove a ways to go have a riverside picnic.  Once we arrived we met Fabien’s mother, sister and an intern that is working with him.  His sister, Letitia, was really friendly and cheerful and she spoke a little bit of English with us.  Gautier, the intern, spoke even more English, and he had a goofy sense of humor that made me laugh all the time.  Fabien’s mom was very serious about hospitality, and she kept laughing at the funny situations that we got ourselves into throughout the day.

For example, just as we sat down to have a picnic a cloud came by and started dumping rain on us.  Ten minutes ago it was blue skies, but the weather changes fast in this part of France.  We threw everything back into the cars, and drove into a tiny town nearby.  There was a post office building that had a small alcove, and it looked like it would make a perfect shelter for our picnic, so we appropriated it.  Everything was spread out, cognac and grape juice cocktails were poured, and as we got started the sun came out again. Figures!

The food that Fabien’s mom had brought was delicious – snail pate, bread, meats and cheeses, potato chips and tomatoes, along with a great rose wine and an even nicer red wine.  Fabien really knew his wines, and poured some very high quality stuff while we were there.

After the picnic we were leaving to get some tickets for a boat ride down the river, but there was apparently a car accident down the road a ways.  Two firemen walked up and blocked the road going the other way, using a sign that showed a car flipping over.  The firemen had interesting helmets, too – they looked more like they belonged on a medieval knight than a fire fighter.

Once we picked up our boat trip tickets we walked out to the river.  As we approached a bunch of young people were getting into canoes and kayaks, and I suddenly thought that this is what we signed up for, but as we turned the corner we saw a big flat-bottom boat docked nearby with passengers waiting patiently on board.  Once we got on and settled in, the captain gave us some history and information, but since it was in French we could only kind of guess at the meaning.  But the real attraction was traveling up and down the river, and following some of the branches to different scenic areas.  It was very relaxing – almost too relaxing after the wine and big lunch.  One of the interesting parts was passing through a water lock system that raised and lowered the boat to travel on different parts of the river.  Watching that operation up close was something I had never done before.  The river had fish swimming around below, and plenty of dragonflies up above.  There was even an awning that they could open and close to protect the passengers from getting too wet from sudden squalls.  The trip was a little more than an hour, and somehow we made it without falling asleep in the warm sunshine.

After disembarking from the boat we all drove a ways down the country road to a park that was located outside an old abbey, at Bassac.  First we stopped at the park and had a quick picnic with grape juice, coffee and a tasty chocolate cake that Letitia had made.  We kept forgetting important stuff in the car, so Fabien’s mom was clever enough to drive the car closer to us instead of sending us back and forth out to the car.  The park was deserted and we had the place to ourselves.  I really enjoyed walking around on the green grass in the sunshine, enjoying the sunny weather, and not being all sweaty like we would have been in back in Japan.

Once we demolished the cake we walked across the street to take a brief tour of the abbey, and it was quite beautiful.  The stained glass was especially striking, and the design of the place was really well done.  There was a tiny group tour walking through and getting explanations in French, but other than that it was just us.  Out back behind the abbey were some gardens, bordering a stream that held lots of fish and plant life.  While we were enjoying the view a couple of people in a kayak went gliding by, and they had a tiny dog sitting on the bow of their boat.  It looked like a very peaceful adventure they were on.

Since we finished up with the abbey, Fabien took us to an old castle on a hill overlooking the greater part of Cognac, with green vineyards stretching to the horizon.  The castle itself was being restored so we couldn’t go in, but this was another place that was completely empty and left all to us.  Our last stop before heading to Fabien’s home was the “Table of Orientation”, a platform on a hill in the middle of some vineyards that showed famous landmarks in a 360 degree view.  It was interesting that in almost every vineyard we saw in Cognac there were no fences separating them, and anybody could just walk into whatever vineyard they liked.  I don’t think that would go over well back in California. I was again struck by how similar the views were to Sonoma Valley, and we even took some touristy shots of us next to some green grapes a month away from harvest.

We were dead tired by the time we headed over to Fabien’s place.  It may have been by design, but when we arrived we were ready for dinner and bed, I think.  We arrived there around 8:30 pm and it was still light outside.  Fabien’s family has a building that they have renovated as kind of a bed and breakfast.  It was quite large and clean, with four bedrooms and a big living space and kitchen down below.  It was nice to put away our bags and get comfortable for a little bit.  I could tell I was going to sleep well that night. But before sleeping we went over to the main house to have dinner.  On the way I met one of their dogs, Baya, who was very friendly.  She was locked up while guests were around, but I had a chance to pet her for a little while.  So cute!

I was really looking forward to a French farmhouse meal, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Fabien, as head of the family, served us cognac cocktails and put out some snacks, and we talked for a while.  I can’t speak for everyone else at the table, but I was ready to drink.  The pace of the drinking slowed considerably, maybe because Fabien was in charge of drinks and he was busy talking most of the time.  But the food kept us busy, and it was really delicious.  There was lots of shellfish (langostinos, scampi, mussels, tiny shrimp), a superbly roasted duck that was the best duck I’ve ever had, local wild mushrooms that rocked my world, and roasted tomatoes with garlic.  After dinner they served a homemade plum tart, and Fabien broke into his stash of very old cognac and served us a healthy dose.  It really was smooth – this was cognac that his grandfather was involved in making so it was very well aged.

As we were leaving to go back to our rooms a bat suddenly swooped inside the room, and flew around in circles looking for the exit.  It made for a bit of a wild ending to the day, but I guess they eventually got it out the door.  We went to bed well past midnight, and it took only moments for both Kuniko and I to fall into a deep sleep.

This morning we got up a little bit earlier than “normal”, and had a light breakfast in the hotel.  They had some interesting yogurt flavors that you don’t find in Japan (coconut, for example), so it wasn’t totally boring.  We had some time before our flight to Toulouse, so we decided to do a recon of the local train station.  It was actually quite close by, and we semi-figured out the system first before we checked out of our hotel.  After checking out of the hotel we came back, bought tickets at the correct machine, and then caught a train to the airport.  The train was a little bit closer to light rail than an actual train, but it was a very modern system. I’d guess the trains and station were less than five years old.

As we left the middle of Porto we could get a chance to see some of the outskirts.  We saw a lot of smaller houses, some in good neighborhoods and some in bad.  There was a lot of open space out here also, which was nice to see after the narrow old city.  It took about half an hour to get to the airport, and we arrived with plenty of time to spare before our flight.  We hit a café and bought some juice to kill time, and then dropped our luggage at the EasyJet counter.  According to the board there was only one flight by EasyJet from Porto that day, so it was easy to find the right counter.

Going through security I managed to set off the security alarm, so I had to be searched.  I’ve gone through the metal detectors enough times that I know what will make it go off and what won’t, but this time maybe they had it set to a very sensitive level.  They never found what was causing it, but after the frisk I was OK to go on.

We found a little shop that sold tiny sandwiches along with glasses of sparkling wine, and that seemed right up our alley.  We enjoyed our brunch and then did some shopping in the duty free shops for some omiyage – some for other people and some for us.  They had some good shops at the Porto airport, actually.  We had plenty of time to shop because our flight was also delayed about 30 minutes.  But once we got boarded it was a very easy 90 minute flight to Toulouse.  Kuniko’s suitcase was literally the last bag out on the baggage carousel, so we had some time to wait there, too.

We caught a taxi from the airport, and it took us to the center of Toulouse.  We had picked this city for meeting my parents based on geography only – I wasn’t very familiar with the city at all.  As it turned out it was quite nice, and it reminded me a little bit of parts of Paris.  The taxi driver knew the hotel so it was a direct shot there, and as we were unloading our bags we met up with my parents who were in the lobby of the hotel.

Wow – it was really surreal to see my parents here in Europe.  They had spent nearly two weeks with friends and their former interns in the southern part of France.  We caught up with them over a bottle of rose in their hotel room, and it sounds like they had a great time during their stay.  They told us all about the wedding they attended, about driving in a rental car to Toulouse and the adventures they had doing laundry and mailing packages in France.  It was really good to see them out here trying new things.

We decided to walk around a little in the downtown area of Toulouse and do some exploring.  There was a big shopping street nearby, so we walked down the street and breathed in the vibe of the neighborhood.  I bought a muddler at a cooking tools shop (and I brought home a catalog – what a cool shop!), and we saw some street performers speaking and breakdancing and gathering big crowds.  We kind of stumbled on a big square that was in front of the opera house.  There were restaurants along two of the sides of the square, so we stopped at one for a glass of wine and to give everyone a chance to rest.

On our way back to the hotel we followed my parents who remembered that there was a Carrefour supermarket nearby.  Eventually we found another supermarket that was closer, but it was a little strange inside.  It was kind of like a wholesaler/seconds supermarket, and they sold their products out of boxes.  Even here we found lots of interesting stuff.  Kuniko scored some cans of foie gras pate, but we also got some supplies for our train trip the next day to Cognac.

Well-supplied, we went back to the hotel to drop stuff off, and then went back to the opera house square to have some dinner.  We chose a restaurant based on the fact that they were displaying an English menu in out front, and it turned out to be a good choice.  The staff was very friendly despite the fact that we only spoke English, and the food and wine was great.  My mom and I had cassoulet, and Kuniko and my dad had foie gras.  They served us bread right on the table, which I saw for the first time.  So far in our travels in France we got our bread on plates, so there was a little mini-culture shock moment for me.

My dad was quickest to snatch the bill, and Kuniko was really bummed out.  She had been spending most of the afternoon planning how to get the bill first, but unfortunately we lost out to age and experience.  Next time we’ll get it! We took a short walk back to our hotel, had a nightcap of port that we brought over from Porto, and then went to bed.  It was hard to set the alarm for 4:15 am, but we had an early train to catch the next day and we needed to drag our luggage a few blocks to make it to the train station on time.

We slept in much later this morning.  Probably an effect of drinking so much port and eating so much food in one day.  Luckily we didn’t feel too full thanks to all the walking up and down hills that we did the day before.

Since we knew that the hotel breakfast wasn’t exciting, we walked down the street to a little café/bakery that Kuniko had spotted the other day.  We went inside and I ordered in Spanish, since English wasn’t really working at this shop.  We had two cream pastries that were charred black on top (so good!) and some delicious coffees with milk.  We ate right out on the street as pedestrians walked by our table, and it was good to be outdoors enjoying something delicious again.

From here we walked back towards the river, but to a slightly different destination, called Plaza Infante.  I had read that there was a train that ran from there to the Atlantic Ocean, and we were interested in checking out the beach.  When we arrived we quickly figured out that the train was actually an historic streetcar, and we paid the paltry sum of 2.50 euros for a one way ticket.  Inside the streetcar was all old lightbulbs, wood and leather.  You could open and close the windows at will, and the streetcar putted along by electric engine and overhead wires alongside the river.  It was great to see a side of the city we hadn’t seen yet, and it felt strangely like traveling in Mexico.  It was a little bit of a rough ride (historic cars don’t really have great suspension) but we arrived at the final stop after about 20 minutes.  The last stop was right near the ocean, and we walked along a cement pier to the western edge of Europe.  Out here the sun was shining brightly, it was much warmer than yesterday, and there was a strong wind blowing.  On the pier there were fisherman lined up, probably catching cod after cod.  It was nice to be out here, it wasn’t crowded and it felt good to be on the water.

We slowly walked back, and discovered a small mini-golf course so we shot a few holes to give Kuniko her first mini-golf experience.  From there it was a short walk to the streetcar station, and we waited on a shady park bench until the next streetcar arrived.  What a great little break from the main city…

Back in the Ribeira area, we stopped at a café for some cold Sagres beer and another Francesinha sandwich.   The service here was pretty slow, even by European standards, and it took a long time before we got the bill.  I handed the guy a 50 euro bill, and waited patiently for change, but Kuniko was starting to think that the guy ran with our money.  Luckily he finally showed up and gave us our change, and we could safely leave.

We walked all the way through the Ribeira, across the bridge, and all the way along the other side, up the mountainside, and finally found our way to Graham’s, one of my favorite port makers.  We signed up at the main desk for two port tastings – one tawny and one vintage.  The building and location were absolutely beautiful, with views that ran the length of the Porto river area.  They picked a perfect location for their port caves.  We really liked their ports (as I thought we might) – and Kuniko’s favorite was “Six Grape” which is pretty easy to find in Japan.  We were the only people in their tasting room at the time, so we had the huge facility to ourselves.  I really liked the pace of things in Porto – slow and deliberate.  On our way down the hill we stopped at another place, Churchill, and did a regular wine tasting this time to shake things up a little.  The guy led us through a flight of their wines but there were no big winner’s here.  I’m sure their ports are much better.

From there we decided to head back to the hotel area and stay close in case we wanted to take a siesta.  We marched up the hill and took some different routes to see some other scenery.  We even snuck through a traffic tunnel to shave some time off our walk and keep the sun off of us.  Today was really sunny and a little hotter than before, which finally gave me some blue sky for my photos.

Near our hotel we intentionally made a turn off the main drag and found a little bar/restaurant that looked interesting.  We sat outside and I went in and ordered some beers to drink.  At first we weren’t going to eat anything, but we reconsidered and I tried to order in Spanish from the staff.  I mis-read his body language response to my questions.  His gesture that I thought had meant, “Sold Out” actually meant “Is that all you want?” so we received some extra dishes.  No problem – we ate cheese, linguica, and some sliced ham with our beers.  This area was a little off the beaten path, so we could watch some strange people walking around.  Some guy came begging at the table next to us, and the guy at the table gave him some money.  Promptly the guys at the table behind him started yelling that he shouldn’t be giving any money, and I thought maybe a situation might develop.  Luckily everyone was cool about things and nothing happened.

Slightly drunk on beer and port we did some more drunken shopping on the way home, and bought water, cookies, and even some curry mango sauce that looked good.  Then it was back to our hotel room for our siesta.  Ever since our trip to Spain we have embraced the siesta for our hot weather trips.

For dinner we went back to the Ribeira area and went to the balcony level, above the main restaurants where we had eaten before.  The balcony level was less popular but the view was much better, and we found a restaurant that turned out to be not only cheap but also delicious.  We ate appetizers while an aggressive seagull watched us carefully, drank a cheap bottle of local red that was better than it had any right to be, and looked down on all the tourists and the river below us.  A guy pretended to be a statue and only moved when people gave him coins in his bucket.  A group of kids played soccer with their tiny pug as tourists walked by and looked on. As for our meal, we had steak with mushroom sauce and shrimp, cod croquettes, frites, and rice.  Behind us the full moon was rising over the bridge, the weather was mild, and our restaurant featured some live music, so it was a very nice romantic meal for us.  After we wrapped up our meal and paid our bill, we got up, and just at that moment they started shooting off fireworks over the river.  We had no idea that this was in the cards, so we got a free fireworks show as well.  It seemed like the whole day had perfect timing.

We felt like we should get one more glass of port and some cheese for dessert, so we went to a little restaurant that was located just below the bridge on a stone outcropping over the river.  We had port and cheese there, but the weather was starting to get cool quickly, and we were exposed to the wind being right out on the river.  We wrapped it up quick – I’ve never seen Kuniko drink a glass of port so fast!  As we walked back to our hotel there was a lot of live music playing on the streets and in restaurants, and it made for a nice finish to the evening.  Also, going uphill was good for burning calories!  It was another great day in Porto.

We followed through with our vow to sleep in, but in the end it wasn’t all that late. It was good to have a slow morning with nothing going on, though. We went down to eat our free hotel breakfast, but we were a little disappointed. It wasn’t that the breakfast was bad, it was just a typical hotel breakfast. No local foods, unfortunately.

The next step was to marshal our forces and go out to see Porto in the daylight. First impression in the day time was completely different from the night time. You could really take in the architecture, and I took lots of pictures of buildings and facades. As usual, Kuniko was very patient with me. We wandered the town using a tourist map from our hotel, and also my GPS when we got lost. Most of the city is grey, but many of the roofs were painted bright orange, which made for an interesting contrast. Doors and windows were also usually colorful, and you could really feel how old the city was. It is a medium sized city, so there was some trash and bad smells now and then, but no worse than any other city we’ve visited. There were hills everywhere, reminding me a lot of San Francisco, but also plenty of seagulls, as the Atlantic Ocean was not that far off.

Walking up a hillside we found an old church with a beautiful view over the Douro River. From here we could see across the river to the Nova de Gaia area that housed all the port caves. All the big port company names were there, and it was like looking at a box of chocolates that you just opened. Which one should be enjoyed first? We walked down the hill to the riverside, and then across the big bridge that links the two sides of the river together. During our trip we spent a lot of time going back and forth across this bridge.

Our first stop was into Sandeman’s. It was still just after breakfast, and I didn’t really feel like tasting port so early, but it was interesting to look through and check out the system. Apparently they were open and letting people take tours and tastings. We decided to save them for later, and as we left a huge Japanese tour group came in. We were surprised to see Japanese people here – it was the first time to see any since we came to Portugal (and actually, it was almost the last time as well – not many Japanese tourists in Porto).

As we continued down the street we found ourselves in need of a restroom, so we decided the next open port house we would stop there for a tasting and to use their toilet. We followed some signs up and down some hills, found ourselves walking down empty pathways and dirt roads, but eventually discovered the tasting room at Offley. I wasn’t very familiar with Offley so we stepped inside, and arranged a tasting (and a bathroom break). The tastings were pretty reasonable, and we could enjoy two flights of very different styles of port. I had a flight that was more geared towards vintage and ruby ports, and Kuniko had a tawny port flight. I have never really been into tawny ports, but my feelings about them started to change while in Porto. There are a lot of great tawny ports out there, and the elegance really came through. I think I still prefer the rich, ripe fruit of good vintage ports, though. Too bad they are so expensive! At the tasting the staff was nice enough to guide us through the flights in English, so we could really understand exactly what we were tasting.

Since we had several glasses of port inside us we wanted to keep the party rolling, so we walked up the hill until we found Taylor’s. There we had just two glasses of port and also some cheese, and sat outside on the picnic tables on the lawn, and enjoyed the view of the river valley. Some peacocks were walking around (with babies), a strange looking chicken, and some cats. It was a nice place to relax, and the port wine quality was a step up from Offley (in my opinion).

All this port was taking its toll on our empty stomachs, so we walked all the way down the hill to the riverside, and found a small restaurant along the main walkway. A tout came up and sat us at a table (turned out he was American), and we ordered some beers to cleanse our palate, and some food to share. This was our first experience with the Francesinha – basically a meat sandwich completely covered in cheese and chili sauce – a heart attack inducer. It was really good, mainly because it is at the opposite spectrum of what we usually eat in our daily lives. We also ordered some picapao (kind of a mixed meat bowl) and some garlic shrimp.

Feeling the need to move after all these calories we walked back to our hotel neighborhood. It is a pretty steep uphill climb to get back to the area of our hotel, so that helped with the exercise a bit. Near our hotel I found a couple of local supermarkets using the GPS application on my phone, and we had some fun shopping while buzzing with alcohol. The prices in Porto were much cheaper than Paris or London, so it was a bit of a free-for-all. We scored lots of good stuff for omiyage, juice, water, sardine pate, and more. It was a whole lot of fun. Then it was just a short walk to our hotel, where we crashed out for an afternoon siesta. Our feet could really use the rest.

We woke up around 5 pm, and decided to go walk by the riverside. We tried a new route to get there, passing through some shopping streets and regular neighborhoods. There was a hippie guy making huge bubbles for the kids and dogs to pop, and it reminded me of Berkeley, California for some reason. As we walked it started to drizzle, but we weren’t really getting wet and it was still warm.

Along the river there was a long line of restaurants that were serving food for tourists, and it was very easy to stop at one at random and order some wine and food. We split a half bottle of local red (that was really good – the still wines were much better than I expected) and also had a bowl of “duck rice”. We just sat and enjoyed the atmosphere and drank our wine. I noticed that people that had arrived after us were starting to get our food, but no duck rice appeared. After a while I gave the waiter a look, and he just shrugged. I was gearing up to complain, but finally it showed up. We had killed the half bottle by that time, and so I ordered a glass of wine to have with the food. The guy hooked me up by filling the glass all the way to the brim – thanks, man!

While we sat here there was a stream of tourists behind us walking along, but nowhere near as many as we had seen in Paris and London. The amount was just about right for us, and it never felt like we were fighting crowds. There was some live music playing in the distance, and a couple of street performers were working the crowd at various intervals. At the center of attention was the river, and the port riverboats that were always anchored along it. Porto really is a beautiful city, and we were enjoying our time there.

Since we had only one dish at this restaurant, we figured we’d hit a few more restaurants having one dish at each of them. It is a common strategy when we go out in Japan, so we thought we’d adapt it to this situation. Our next stop was a seafood restaurant on the other side (the port cave side) of the river. Our server reminded me of Anna Kendrick, and she poured us wine and served us cod with cream as our main dish. We were getting plenty of cod on this trip – it was the local specialty fish apparently. We had originally ordered something else, but she told us not to order it because it wouldn’t go well with what he had already ordered. Thanks for the inside tips!

Our last stop of the evening was at Sandeman’s. Outside their main port facility they had a restaurant with lots of outdoor tables to enjoy the view. We grabbed a table and ordered a cheese platter with some port. The cheese was really good – different from what we have had so far this trip. It was very moist, kind of like a giant BabyBell wheel. It went really well with our tawny ports, and made a nice finish for the evening. It was getting late and lots of shenanigans were happening around us, so there was plenty to see. Some kids were playing soccer down the way, and one couple suddenly ran off without paying their bill. Almost all the restaurant waiters ran after them, and that was the first time I’d see it happen in Europe.

We paid our bill, which was a little more expensive than we expected (maybe we were covering the lost money from the people that bailed) but totally worth it for the port and cheese experience. We walked from there back across the bridge, up the hill, and to our hotel. I spent some time writing in this journal, and then it was time for bed. I think our plan for tomorrow is more of the same!

Our alarm was set early (6 am), and it was pretty tough to get out of bed.  We dragged ourselves up and in and out of the shower, and then lugged our suitcases down the stairs to check out.  As we checked out the clerk said that he expected payment at that time, but Kuniko had already paid by credit card a long time ago.  This is a sensitive topic for us, especially after last summer in Granada and the episode we went through there.  I could tell Kuniko’s anger was starting to come up, and I was starting to move out of the way.  The clerk apparently saw it too, and so he rechecked his files and found that he was in fact in error.  He blamed his coworker, but it was a little pitiful in my opinion.  Anyway, we left our bags there for safekeeping and hit the road.

Our goal this morning was to see Versailles Palace before our flight out to Portugal.  On paper it seemed doable, and we already had e-tickets for Versailles so it was just a matter of logistics.  And as it turned out, it was pretty easy to do.

From our hotel we walked to Invalides station, which was only about 10 minutes’ walk.  From there we bought tickets and caught a train to Versailles Palace.  The train was already just sitting there waiting so we got some seats and were pretty much the only people in the train car.  It was a nice ride out to Versailles, passing some interesting neighborhoods and beautiful buildings.  We ate some chocolate on the way, soon enough we arrived at the station around 8 am.  We stopped in at Starbucks for a coffee to go and then walked down the street until we found the Palace.  It was hard to miss.  The front gate was quite dramatic with statues and shiny gold gates, just like at our house.

We had already bought tickets, and I had heard that the gardens were open an hour before the palace opened, so we walked behind the palace and spent a lot of time in the gardens.  They were huge!  As we walked around the grounds it was a little cold, but the sun came out now and then and warmed us up.  The beautiful flowers, fountains and pools were everywhere, and the scale was really impressive.  Around opening time we walked back around to the front of the palace to join the line, and we found that it had grown tremendously while we were exploring the gardens.  Uh, oh – maybe a small miscalculation here.  We lined up at the back, and it took about an hour to get inside the palace.  Luckily the weather was good, we could do lots of people watching, and the line moved pretty fast.  By the time we neared the front of the line it had grown even more.  I would hate to arrive at that time and try to get in.

Inside the main gate they had a security check, and they looked inside Kuniko’s bag and even under her hat, but we made it through.  Once inside, there were a lot of people – maybe too many.  Each room had so many people in it that it made it a little difficult to move without walking in front of someone taking a picture.  There were a lot of reasons to take a picture, too – the interiors were beautifully (and ostentatiously) decorated, with each having some sort of theme.  Because of all the photography the flow of visitors was slower than usual.  I didn’t mind, since I was also taking a lot of pictures, but I could tell Kuniko wanted to move it along a little faster.

Some of the rooms had historical significance, some were decorated in a unique way, and it seemed like there were decoration styles for just about every taste.  I really liked the darkest rooms with no windows, that were decorated in black and red.  The hall of mirrors was beautiful as well, with chandeliers catching the sunlight and spreading it out down the long hall.

We went through the palace fairly quickly, finishing up after an hour.  The lines outside were even longer as we walked back to the station, and between the station and the palace there was a steady stream of visitors walking.  It was easy to catch a train back to Paris, and we could see inside each train going the opposite way there were tons of people going to Versailles.  So I guess our timing wasn’t so bad, and I’m sure those people going in were going to have to fight even larger crowds.

Back in Paris we walked back towards our hotel to pick up our bags, but we felt like it would be a better idea to get something to eat first, before we had to manage our bags at some restaurant.  So we hit a small corner brasserie (the kind with red awnings).  The place had a relaxed atmosphere, and we took a table facing the street so we could watch people walking by.  I can’t say enough how nice it is to eat and drink outside on the street and watch the world go by.  This has yet to catch on in the Kansai area, so we always try to get our fill in Europe.  The waitress spoke English, and they had an English menu, so I knew we must be near the Eiffel Tower.  We ordered a couple of big glasses of wine – rose for me, red for Kuniko.  I ate some spring rolls stuffed with warm goat cheese and mint, with a little sweetness in the spring roll wrapper.  It was really good.  Kuniko had a very substantial ham and cheese omelet, heavy on the cheese.  A few tables down a young American couple were discussing deep topics and maybe having a fight, but by the end of the meal they had seemed to patch things up.  Ah, Paris.

With brunch completed, and a little bit of a buzz from our wine, we went back to our hotel and collected our bags. As we walked with our bags we happened to see a taxi.  I flagged him down and he stopped, but he already had a passenger.  He told us to wait five minutes and he’d be back, so we sat and waited.  At the end of the quiet street we were on there was a much busier street, and I could see taxis driving back and forth along it, so I started to wonder if this was a good idea.  We waited about ten minutes, and then gave up on our taxi and went to the busier street to catch another cab.  As you might expect, as soon as we got to the busy street there wasn’t a taxi to be found.  We waited a few minutes here and eventually a cab came by.  And wouldn’t you know it – it was the original guy.  He swore up and down that he went back for us, and I believed him, but it was kind of an awkward ride to the station.  He took us to a station but it turned out to be the wrong station, and we spent a few minutes walking to the correct one.  Once we got our suitcases down to the platform, bought our tickets and caught the correct train, everything was cool.  The Paris metro was not exactly clean (especially compared to the London underground and Japanese trains, which are admittedly high standards).  When we got on the train to the airport a nice lady gave up her seat so we could get our bags and bodies near each other.  The ride was a little long, but there weren’t so many stops before the airport.  While we were riding the train an old guy played the violin (rather poorly) in our train car, looking for donations afterwards.  It was just the right thing for a train in Paris, I thought.

We got to Charles de Gaulle airport with plenty of time to spare, and went to check into our flight to Porto in Portugal.  We were a little early, so we had to wait about 30 minutes off to the side until we could get our bags checked into EasyJet.  In the baggage line we spotted a musical group, who were checking a giant tribal drum made of a log – I wondered how much that costs in baggage fees.

Our flight to Porto was about 25 minutes late, but that is to be expected with the cheap low cost carrier flights.  We just sat and read our books and soon enough they were calling us to board.  We had the aisle and center seat, with an antsy middle aged woman trapped behind us in the window seat.  She was clearly uncomfortable with the arrangement and kept trying to communicate with someone else on the plane.  We just sat down and went right to sleep, which made ignoring everything much easier.  The flight was a pretty noisy one – maybe the noisiest flight I’ve ever been on.  There was not one but three screaming babies, lots of turbulence, and the boy behind us kept yelling out “Papa!” every time he saw something out the window.  Our zen training served us well, however.  Thankfully it was a very short flight, and soon we were descending to the runway at Porto.

But there was one final surprise in store for us.  Just as we were about to touchdown the plane suddenly accelerated and took off again.  That was a first for me, and everybody on the plane was wondering what was going on.  The plane began to circle over the ocean and head back to Porto, and after a while the captain announced that there was a dog loose on the runway, and that they would try landing again after it was safely captured.  Everybody laughed at the story, and soon enough we landed safely and taxied to the terminal.

Maybe I’m cynical, but I had doubts that there was really a dog on the runway.  If the pilot made some kind of mistake, or if there was some technical trouble with the plane, the last thing he would say on the announcement would be, “I made a mistake, let me try again.”  I figured the dog on the runway was a funny situation that would make people relax, and then they could have a planeload of calm passengers for the second attempt.  This is only my theory, though – who knows?

We got our bag quickly, cleared customs, and grabbed a taxi right away.  We were the only people in the taxi line.  The driver was very aggressive, and it was our introduction to Portuguese drivers.  Thanks to his aggressive driving we made it into Porto very quickly.  He took us to the address that I had shown him, and it was clear that it was a bad neighborhood.  I was pretty nervous, until he realized he had made a mistake, and he took us around to another place.  This might have been a way to get a little more fare – I wasn’t quite sure.  However, the final destination was a much nicer area so it was with much relief that we got out and unloaded our bags.  Our hotel was located on a busy shopping street, mainly filled with pedestrians.  The streets were cobblestone, and the sidewalks inlaid with black and white tiles to form tasteful designs along each street.  I really liked the architecture as well – most houses had tiles inlaid into the front with various colorful designs.  We were off to a good start in Porto.

We checked into our hotel, the Grande Porto Hotel which was historic, clean, and very old-fashioned.  We really liked our room – it was spacious, with a big modern bathroom, air conditioning, and a refrigerator.  It was nice to know that for the next three nights we’d be very comfortable with plenty of room to spread out.

First item on the agenda was to go out and explore the city.  I had a plan to go see the riverside, so I used the GPS application on my phone to lead us to one of the bridges on the river.  I didn’t realize it, but we ended up on the top of the bridge, and all the stuff we wanted to see was at the bottom.  It was dark, and we were a little wary of the vibe in the area.  Since we didn’t know the town at all, we thought it best to head back to our hotel and get something to eat nearby.

Across the street from our hotel was a restaurant that had tables out on the street, so we grabbed a table and soon had some glasses of wine in front of us.  The restaurant was called the “Majestic Café” and later we found out that it was famous.  I’m not sure if it is famous for the food, the architecture, or the history, but we really liked it.  Our waiter was really friendly and helpful, and he gave us lots of freebies.  With our wine we ordered some dinner.  Kuniko had duck cooked in port wine, and I had cod cooked in garlic oil, on top of boiled eggs and potatoes.  My dish had a pretty dramatic presentation, and even the people at the table next to us wanted to take a picture of it.  We finished the dinner with a couple glasses of port, and then went back to our hotel.  Before bed we turned off our alarms and put out the “do not disturb” sign.  That was a very busy day.