We had an early flight from JFK and so we decided to catch an earlier shuttle bus from the hotel. Even at 4:30 am there were a lot of other people with the same idea. One family had a huge amount of luggage, another had the biggest baby carriage I have ever seen, and the line quickly grew longer than the capacity of the shuttle. Luckily we made it on, and it was a quick ride to the airport. 

The airport was surprisingly busy when we arrived, and quite disorganized. The check-in line was long (even four hours before boarding) and the security line was even longer. People were cutting in at different areas, the TSA people looked blasé about the whole thing, and I was glad we came to the airport early. After security we had time enough for a breakfast with some mimosas, a little snack shopping, and then the six hour flight to San Francisco.

My parents picked us up at the airport – it had been a year since we had seen them last. They indulged our request for In ‘N Out Burger on the way back to Glen Ellen, and the food really hit the spot.

The rest of our stay was relaxing and fun. Nancy and Lynn showed up the next day, and it was good to catch up with everyone. We ate lots of Mexican food, both at home and at restaurants and taco trucks. We did wine tasting at VJB, Ty Caton, Cline and Jacuzzi. We had a big anniversary dinner at Stella, the sister restaurant of Star in Glen Ellen. The dinner was OK but not revolutionary – kind of simple but with a lot of volume. But being there with family made the experience much more memorable. 

At a taco truck in Sonoma Kuniko accidentally took a big bite of a very spicy chili pepper – I ran to buy chocolate milk for first aid. We also ran up to Mike Benziger’s farm, and it was cool to see what has been his focus since they sold off the wine business. He had a hefty crop of marijuana along with all the biodynamic vegetables (black tomatoes, amaranth, purple basil) and flowers. His dog was really cute too – a little vampiric as it licked Mike’s scratched legs. He had chickens and sheep up there too – very cool.

On our wine tasting at Cline we were served by a lady that looked a lot like Margot Robbie, and watched a stork stoically watch us while we sipped some pretty nice wines. We went across the street to Jacuzzi and enjoyed some of the Italian varieties they had there. 

We had a drink at the London Lodge with Nancy and Lynn – three big plates of fried food went well with my beer, but things almost went off the rails when Nancy and Lynn misplaced their hotel room key. Luckily they found it later in my parent’s car.

We also had Brian Haven and Kerry over to share some Mary’s Pizza. It was good for Haven to catch up with Nancy and Lynn as it had been a really long time. They brought two pies from Sebastopol that were excellent – especially with vanilla ice cream. 

Finally we went up to Santa Rosa to hit Best Buy and get my parents a new laptop. We looked at a few models and got some advice from the staff (heavy on the upselling) and then took it home and got it started. My dad was using Carbonite but there were some issues getting it transferred over to the new computer – I think he is still waiting for it to download completely. 

We also spent time with Matt and Suzie before we had to leave for our flight. They looked the same as ever – and it had been a really long time since I could see Suzie. 

On the way to the airport bus we ate a big dinner at Molcajete, tasty Mexican food but I thought it was a little pricey for what we got. The cactus salad was excellent! 

Finally my folks took us to the Petaluma Fairgrounds parking lot and we waited a while for the airport bus. One bus came early but when I checked with them it seemed like to was going to opposite way. The female driver gave me a hungry look – it has been a while since I have gotten a “come hither” look like that. 

But eventually our bus came and we said our goodbyes to my parents. They did a lot for us during the trip – paying for everything and making sure that we had a great time. We’ll be back in December for Christmas to spend more time with them!

We arrived with plenty of time in San Francisco, caught the plane to Haneda and had a smooth flight. The lady next to Kuniko kept losing her glasses (three times!) so that was a little disturbing but such is the case when flying economy. 

The connection in Haneda to Kobe was surprisingly tight and the inter-terminal bus was nowhere to be found, just a long line of people that would never fit on one bus. We took a panic ride on a taxi, costing us 2000 yen but arriving with enough time to check in. We’ve got another tight connection in October on our way to Australia – we’ll have to work on a strategy to make it easier. 

The flight to Kobe was half-full so we had plenty of space to stretch and we could see great views of Mt. Fuji and later our city as we descended. Then it was a simple matter of catching trains home. 

We did a lot this trip but it was great to see some things we usually don’t – and also spend time with family and friends. Our next trip is coming up soon!

Once again we were early risers, heading out to look for a coffee shop. We found one a few blocks away that had just opened, and despite the hot temperatures inside we sat down and had a couple of cappuccinos. We also ordered a bagel with egg, and the staff offered to squish a hash brown in there too – why not? I really enjoyed the coffee and bagel despite the copious amount of sweat I was losing. 

We checked out of our hotel at 8:30 am and stored our bag at the counter, and then caught the nearest subway to do more sightseeing in the city. We started with Grand Central Station, and then walked outside to see the adjacent Chrysler Building, but it was too tall to appreciate from where we were. Other stops nearby were the lions in front of the NY Public Library, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, and then a few blocks more to Times Square. It was pretty humid, not quite as hot as Japan, but I was glad I brought a towel to mop up the sweat. 

Times Square had changed quite a bit since I was there last. There are more screens and less neon, with major thoroughfares closed off to cars. We stopped in at the M&M shop to use their air conditioning, and on our way out I noticed a lot more street food vendors than I remember from before. 

Next stop was the Museum of Modern Art, and we arrived just as they were starting to open. Before we went in we looked around the gift shop, and one staff recommended a particular elevator that was hidden away to get to the top floor quickly. After another ticket-taker (with a groovy retro suit and a huge Afro) let us in we took the elevator with a few other people and found ourselves on the fifth floor alone with The Starry Night, a Van Gogh painting that I have always wanted to see up close. 

We saw a lot of other famous pieces of art including Monet’s water lilies, Pollock and Picasso, and since we were there early it was easy to walk around and pick what we wanted to focus on. A few hours later as we left it was a madhouse, but I understand since it was Sunday morning. 

After the museum we could feel the day rapidly warming – so we headed north to see Central Park. We spent most of our time at the south end of the park which I hadn’t seen when I was there before. There were a lot of other people walking the park with us, and we stuck to the shade to avoid the worst of the heat. Near the center of the park we got to walk through the Minton Tiles in the tunnel leading to some fountains – this was a place that I had on my priority list. My computer’s start up image has been these tiles lit up in early evening, and even though we were there in the late morning it was still cool to see. 

Leaving the park we went west looking for someplace for lunch. We picked out a restaurant called The Ribbon sort of at random, and were able to enjoy a brunch with prosecco, as well as their air conditioning. The restaurant had a pretty cool bar and the atmosphere was comfortable and relaxing – not too upscale.

After brunch we went to catch a train on Line A. One of my students gave me information that the new R211 train cars that my company is busy building are running occasionally on Line A, so we went down to the line to check them out. It was hot and humid down on the subway platform, so we settled down to see if we could catch my company’s newest product. Unfortunately the first train that came was an old one, but we got lucky with the second train and we could try out the new train car. It was already getting a little dirty but it had a lot more modern features. It was an odd feeling to be riding the tangible object that I spend (a lot of) time talking about with my students. 

We rode the train to the area near our hotel and sat in the hotel bar sipping cold drinks and doing some journaling. After a while we started to get hungry again, and I suggested a Chinese place called Xian Famous Foods that was nearby. I had read the cookbook and I love dry flat noodles in Asian cooking, so it seemed like a perfect choice. 

The restaurant was filled with Chinese people, and there wasn’t a seat available. The families who had finished their food were content to sit at the table and rest, while their kids watched cartoons on their smartphones. We had to share a one seat table, and then later we could stand up and eat at a counter. I didn’t mind, but it reminded me of how considerate local customers are back in Japan. The noodles were great – excellent size and texture, and we got out with lamb and cumin. The bad news was there was a lot of oil – chili oil everywhere which didn’t look very appetizing. I’d love to cook with these noodles – I’ll bet my version would be less oily and more fun to eat. All the chili in the oil got me sweating again – this was one of my sweatiest days ever, which is saying something considering the summers in Japan.

Off we went back to the hotel to pick up our suitcase, and then we caught the subway from the World Trade Center station. We entered from a different way this time, and walked through a beautifully designed shopping area, encased in a sort of white bony structure. We caught a local train towards JFK airport, where our next hotel was located. It took a long time to get there, but we were enjoying the chance to sit down and be under the air conditioning. 

During the ride three guys came into our train car, set down a loud speaker, and started to do some dancing to try to drum up some money from the passengers. They had some great moves – swinging from the overhead stanchions and straps, and working the poles with a lot of upper body strength. Apparently this is typical for trains around here but for Kuniko it was some serious culture shock. 

Finally we reached the end of the line, and while most passengers were transferring to the AirTrain to get to the airport, our destination was a hotel outside the airport. We decided to go up to the street level and catch an Uber to get there directly. As soon as we dragged our suitcase up the steps and got onto the street there was the sound of a lady screaming at someone, and all around us were derelict cars and shuttered businesses. Welcome to South Jamaica!

Our Uber showed up in less than 5 minutes, and while we waited I noticed that across the street was a police car sitting and one of the police officers was keeping an eye on us. I was halfway between disconcerted and relieved. The Uber driver was really cool and took us through back streets to get to our hotel. I would guess that about 50% of the cars we passed had some parts missing, and the houses were clean and oddly ornamented with chrome designs and gates. We were both glad we weren’t walking to the hotel.

Our driver dropped us off at the hotel, a Courtyard by Marriott, and we went in and got checked in. The area around the hotel looked a little risky, so we decided to stay inside. There was a restaurant/bar, but the vibe was a little sterile for us. There was a snack bar next to the front desk, but nothing really grabbed us and Kuniko noticed that there were no price tags – hmm…

Instead we went back upstairs to get relax with some reading, video games and journaling. The room was comfortable, a little bit of a tobacco smell that was lingering, and the restroom door only closed about 60% so we could listen to each other use the toilet. Luckily we were checking out early tomorrow to catch a flight to California.

Once again we woke up quite early. I did a little journaling at the desk with the window looking out over the parking lot and watched the sun rise. Since we were in the city that never sleeps we checked out quite early. The staff was a little rude to Kuniko as she checked out, but I guess you get what you pay for. Outside I called an Uber and we took a short trip into Queens to the closest subway station at Jackson Heights/Roosevelt.

While driving there we spent some time driving under the elevated tracks, and the whole look of the thing reminded me of scenes from so many movies. I wanted to take a few photos but when the driver stopped across from the station it looked like the kind of area you shouldn’t hang out for too long. Instead we rolled our suitcase inside to catch the subway.

Luckily New York MTA has a credit card touch ticket system that has a weekly limit – it made things stress-free in terms of payment. Since I was a rookie I tried pulling my suitcase through the gate turnstile – not impossible but incredibly awkward. Later we learned that there is a special gate for luggage and wheelchairs – like I said, I was a rookie… 

We caught the E line train all the way to the Financial District and got out at the World Trade Center station. From there it was a very short walk through empty streets to our hotel, called Cloud One. Our plan was to just drop off our suitcase, but as luck would have it they had an empty room available so we were able to check in and get into our room at 7 am. Nice!

The room was very nice, the location was central, and it turned out to be a great homebase for the rest of our stay in Manhattan. After dropping off our stuff we headed out on the town, still really early on Saturday morning. 

We started off by walking south to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The streets in this area were a little dirty – maybe the street cleaners hadn’t made it there yet. We passed a few statues of Miffy and Hello Kitty – was there a Japanese company here? At the ferry terminal we waited just a little bit for the next ferry, and took a free ride across to Staten Island. That gave us a closer look at the Statue of Liberty – something that was on Kuniko’s priority list.  The last time I was in New York Brian Haven and I settled for a view of the statue from Battery Park, so it was nice to see it a little closer.

At Staten Island we debarked and quickly re-boarded and then took the return trip back to Manhattan. There were more tourists on this leg, including a big group of chubby Chinese tourists taking selfies – they looked like they were having so much fun! The ferry wasn’t crowded on either leg – there was plenty of room.

Getting a little hungry we took the subway from Whitehall St. South Ferry across to Brooklyn and changed at Jay St. Metro Tech, and then on to 2nd Avenue station in the East Village to hit Katz’s Delicatessen. This was something that is impossible to get in Japan – a NY Jewish deli with monster pastrami sandwiches. The system was interesting – we received a couple of blue tickets when we entered, and then lined up in front of one of the four “cutters” that were making sandwiches. We told the guy what we wanted, and watched him cut the meat and assemble the dishes. He gave us a little free sample while we waited – nice touch!

Our cutter was right down to business but other guys were enjoying talking with the customers – so if you were in one of those lines it might take longer to get your food. We ended up getting one large pastrami sandwich, a half sandwich of beef brisket, a bowl of matzo ball soup, and then a couple of whole pickles along with a lemonade (for Kuniko) and a beer for me.  I paid the bill at another station, and the guy tried to fit in another job while I waited for him to tear off my receipt from the machine. I reached over to tear it off myself, and he told me to slow down and relax – I told him that I had a hot sandwich and a hungry wife waiting for me.

The pastrami was really delicious – nice and moist and easy to really chow down. The brisket had an excellent crust on the outside, but a little too dry for us on the inside. We used lots of brown mustard too – it was a great complement to the meats. 

The vibe of the place was good – it is a pretty famous place and after we sat down the lines got pretty long. It pays to eat early! At a table nearby was a group of Japanese guys, some of them seemed like they work for Kawasaki. Not my Kawasaki, but it was good that word was getting around. We buckled down and managed to finish (almost) everything, and then turned in our blue tickets as we left (for some reason). 

The rest of the morning we did some general sightseeing – One Freedom Tower, the 9/11 memorial pools, the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street, Trinity Church, and a unique octopus sculpture called “The Arms of Friendship”.  Then we went back to the room to take a little break.

While resting in the room I discovered that right next to our hotel was Eataly – a food hall that I had heard great things about. We decided to go check it out, and wow – it was awesome. It is the kind of place that would make us fat and bankrupt if it was close to our house. Cheese, bread, cooking tools, wine, a bar, gelato – they had everything. We went for a little gelato and they were great. Kuniko had a fruit blend of passion fruit, blood orange and one other. I had “Croccantino Allamarena” which was made of sweet milk, sour cherries and chocolate bits. Mind-blowing!

We walked a few streets down to a gourmet market called Jubilee, scoring a lot of water and yogurt for the room. It was nice to be so close to so many shops that carry goods that we are interested in. We carried our groceries back to the hotel and got hydrated, and then decided to take a nap until dinner time and rest our legs a bit.

In the evening I ironed my (only) nice shirt and managed to wake up Kuniko and then we went out to have an anniversary dinner at Manhatta, an upscale place on the 60th floor just a few blocks from our hotel.

On the ground floor there was an entranceway and a check-in desk with three people. Once they had my name they saw that it was our anniversary, and chit-chatted a little with us about that. Then they escorted us to the express elevator which whisked (yes, whisked) us to the 60th floor. Staff were there to greet us and take us to our table. The whole floor had windows from floor to ceiling all the way around, so there was plenty to gawk at. They led us past a stylish bar and then past an open kitchen with a big squad of cooks cooking seriously. 

On our table there was an anniversary card, designed like it was a matchbook. Kuniko tried to explain it to me and I was completely confused about what she was trying to say – “Match! Match!”  The table wasn’t next to the window (we didn’t have any connections) but we were close enough to enjoy the views and the service was great. Our server was really more of a chief of staff – she had a guy trailing her and learning the ropes – and she did a great job with making sure we had a great meal. She often used the word “amazing”, and when she said it her eyes got big and we ended up doing the same thing to each other the rest of the trip. Near us some tech bros sat around the table (for a long time after they finished), an Instagrammer took photos of herself with the skyline behind, while waiters patiently waited for her to finish.

So we started off with cocktails – I had a “Brooklyn”, which was a variation on a Manhattan and Kuniko had “East River” which included “shark” as an ingredient. Luckily it was a gummy shark – cute touch. And the meal:

First we started with an amuse bouche tart with salmon roe and tomato. We shared all our courses. First was trout with a tomato granita, and also a smoked burrata with strawberry and cucumber. Second course was corn and truffle tortellini, and scallops with tomatoes and a vibrant smoky yellow cream sauce in the middle. Third course was sea bass and a breast of duck with an anise sauce that came with a small “shot” of chateaubriand – it was amazing. We didn’t order dessert but they brought some anyway – a white hockey puck of ricotta cheese around an Earl Grey tea cake. Also there were various small bites – a jelly, a macaroon, and chocolates. We liked all the dishes – great flavors and combinations of textures. Exactly our kind of cuisine!

After we walked around the restaurant a little bit, to see the views from the other sides and take a few pictures. Eventually we went back down the elevator and hit the town. From the restaurant we headed southeast, towards the Brooklyn Bridge. As we walked Kuniko suddenly needed a restroom – finding a clean public toilet can be a challenge – but two doormen in a random building let us use one for guests, and they saved her life. 

Farther along we found Tin House – a collection of cool shops and restaurants alongside the East River. There was some kind of live music event nearby, and plenty of people were walking around and enjoying the slightly cooler evening. There were great views of the bridge and Brooklyn beyond – it was a really nice spot. We walked around the area for quite a bit, enjoying the city at night, and as we were thinking about heading back Kuniko suddenly needed a restroom again. Luckily we were passing a wine bar that we had seen earlier so we popped in.

The place was called ZiZi wine bar. We perused the menu and it was focused on mostly Mediterranean wines including wines from Lebanon which I don’t have much experience with. I had a red, Kuniko had a dry Lambrusco, and we shared a baked Brie. They were playing old 80s music, and the proprietor was a beautiful woman who looked like she should be an actress or something. 

Finally we wrapped up our Manhattan evening and headed back to the hotel. We have big plans for the rest of our visit here.

Due to some lingering jet lag I woke up early, kind of drifting in and out. The room was quiet and dark, and with the king size bed it was easy to lay back and relax. After a while we got up and showered and spent some slow time. Looking out the window we saw a trash truck coming down the street – the collectors took a before and after photo of the trash they collected at each stop, which seemed like a semi-modern way to ensure quality control.

We ran out to the nearest Tim Horton’s for some early morning coffee. The place was busy but just one staff was working, a young Asian woman who seemed unperturbed by being stuck with all the work. Later someone came in late and started helping out. We got our coffees and a lemon poppyseed muffin stuffed with cream, and then went back to our room to pack up our stuff.

We hit the road from there, rolling our suitcase south towards Union station to catch our bus to Niagara Falls. We walked through the financial district which was cleaner and wider than the area near our hotel – less weed aroma in the air. We walked past the Maple Leafs hockey arena, got a cheesy keychain to hang on our Christmas tree, and eventually we arrived at the bus terminal  for the next stage of our trip.

There is also train service to Niagara, but it didn’t run very often, and the train station was far enough away from the falls that we’d need a bus or taxi anyway. The bus terminal was surprisingly clean but not very well organized. We knew our bus departure time and destination, but the gate announcements didn’t really mention our bus. There was a long line near our gate but it turned out to be another bus that was late – ours was on time and a shorter line. 

We boarded our bus and left on time, but once we hit the freeway we immediately got stuck in gridlock. That’s one good point about using the train – no traffic to worry about. After spending an extra 30 minutes or so in traffic things thinned out and the rest of the journey was fine. We drove over a big bridge as we turned east from Hamilton, and closer to Niagara we started passing huge vineyards and the occasional winery. 

Kuniko was eagerly anticipating the arrival at Niagara Falls, but the bus had to make two initial stops first. At each stop the driver spent time explaining how we can get back to Toronto later in the day, but as this was a one way trip for us we didn’t need the explanation. Near the final stop traffic got more intense, and it was almost agonizing to be so close but have to wait for the bus to find the proper parking spot.

But finally we got off the bus, grabbed our suitcase, and walked a few steps to see the waterfalls. The air was heavy with what seemed like rain, but was actually the mist from the splash of the water. We needed a raincoat as it was so heavy, but everything and everyone was wet too. With a little maneuvering we avoided most of the mist and because of the sunny weather and blue sky we soon dried out.

The views of the waterfalls were spectacular. It has been around 25 years since I was here last with Brian Haven, and I had forgotten the scale of the falls and how dramatic they are. We spent a lot of time trying to capture the scene with our phone cameras (impossible), and watching the big boats (that seem tiny at this distance) carrying raincoated tourists for views from the base of the falls. There was even a hot air balloon tethered to the American side, which looked like it was doing a good business. 

Despite all the tourists the falls are big enough that it was easy to roll our suitcase along, and to find available places along the rails to take in the view. Since we were getting a little hungry we decided to stop at a nice looking restaurant across the street from the falls, and saw that they had a second floor covered terrace with great views. The downstairs was a gift shop and cafeteria that smelled faintly of toilet, so I carried our suitcase up the staircase and checked in with the staff. They let us stash our bag behind the counter and then led us to a table right on the edge of the terrace with great views of the falls. It was the perfect table – something I would have liked to have arranged before but ended up lucking into.

So it was in this beautiful environment that we had a nice lunch, two flights of local wines, and some chill time in the shade. We ordered whipped feta with a chipotle jalapeño sauce, a short rib sandwich (which needed salt – I think someone forgot to add it) and just a regular hamburger (which was not bad at all). The wines were interesting – we liked the whites overall more than the reds. I took pictures of the two wine flights and for the whites I liked (from the left) #1 and #4 best. For the reds we preferred #1, then #2 and finally #4. #3 wasn’t really our style.

Our server was nice enough to take our photo, and then with a nice little wine buzz we grabbed our suitcase and started heading over to the Rainbow Bridge to walk into America.

It was bright and hot as we approached the bridge, and had to pay a $1.25 CAD toll (tapping our credit card was OK) to walk across. There were a few people crossing both directions but not as many as you might expect. There were a few more cars – just not many pedestrians and we were the only ones with a suitcase. At the midpoint of the span we were able to get some great views of the whole area and look down to the river far below. I thought the view alone was worth the $1.25 CAD.

On the American side we went into a small building, and found about 10 people waiting ahead of us. On the other side of a glass wall there was a line of young Amish men and women, who were staring at us as much as we were staring at them. They were being processed separately (for some reason) and so we just had to wait a short time. One small family ahead of us was rejected and sent back to Canada, so that put the pressure on us a little.

But when we were called to the front of the line the border guard just had a few questions (any food in that suitcase?) and he had Kuniko give her fingerprints. The machine and system had just been updated, so there was some confusion on both sides – the immigration officer’s dry wit made it hard to see if he was pissed off or just being clever. In the end it was a smooth entry into the United States, and we passed through the next door.

As we opened the next door into America proper, we almost hit a huge overweight guy, part of a family of grossly overweight people who were buying Cokes from the vending machine. I thought that they would make a huge first impression on first time visitors. 

Beyond the building was a big park, and part of the area where Americans who don’t want to cross the border can see Niagara Falls from their side. I agree that the view is better from the Canada side, but the park was pretty busy with tourists. We found a shady spot, called an Uber, and we were off to the Buffalo airport. It was a 40 minute ride in an air conditioned car which made for a pleasant link on this journey. I would have liked to do the whole thing with public transportation, but the Niagara Falls – Buffalo link isn’t well-served by public transit.

We arrived at Buffalo airport three hours before our short domestic flight to LaGuardia airport. When planning the trip I didn’t know how much time the border crossing would take and so we had some time to kill at the airport. It was a pretty small place, and I when I saw Buffalo Sabres merchandise for sale in the gift shop it really brought back memories of another life before I came to Japan. To kill time we dozed a little, played Balatro, and finally caught our flight which left 15 minutes late. It was a small plane but we could sit together for the short flight.

A highlight for me was flying in over New York City at sunset. We were on the wrong side for Manhattan but I could peek through the window on that side and see the city as we descended. I turned to Kuniko to point out the sights but she was zonked out – so I didn’t wake her up. Once we landed there was traffic while our plane taxied and a fairly long delay getting to the gate. 

It was my first time to LaGuardia airport and we were impressed with the quality of the restaurants and bars we passed as we headed to the baggage carousel. It was too bad we wouldn’t come back to this airport this time. Our suitcase was already on the carousel so it was on to the curb and we easily found our hotel shuttle to Aloft, a cheap chain hotel that was not far away. 

At first it was just us and a lady who had already gotten on the shuttle bus, but soon a huge middle eastern family showed up and the driver started stacking their suitcases on top of ours – the lady complained to the driver (in Spanish) and managed to save her laptop from flattening. She talked with us a little (in English) and we bumped into her again later at the hotel restaurant. The driver was bilingual too – it was cool to see him slipping between languages for different passengers.

At the hotel it was an easy check-in process, and then we dropped off our stuff in our (quite large) room, and then went down to the restaurant for a quick dinner. We were the only customers, but the manager was really cool and took care of us. We had shrimp sliders (excellent) and beef sliders (so-so). Kuniko asked for a white wine and the manager asked her if she preferred a particular varietal – nice! I had a Stella Artois beer, and after dinner we moved to the bar for a couple of margaritas. 

The bar was a little livelier than the restaurant, and the bartender had a couple of people with a service dog on one side, and a lonely looking dude sitting at the bar right in front of her.  Later a group of Cincinnati Reds boosters came down, having attending a Mets game where they came out on top. 

We were pretty tired after a long day of travel, so we went on up to our room. The suite layout was nice and the bed was huge, so it was a comfortable first night in New York.

Our bed was really comfortable and we managed to sleep in as it was so nice being horizontal again. We went out for morning coffee and some breakfast – we found a cafe that had just opened. We ordered two cappuccinos and a roasted artichoke sandwich – however somehow a mistake was made and we ordered two sandwiches rather than one to split. We just went with it, and it was really good. The vibe of the cafe was nice – lots of people came in to get their coffees to go – and outside people jogged and walked to work.

Thanks to the bigger-than-expected breakfast we stopped in at Tim Horton’s for more coffee to go. The restaurant had hockey stick door handles – perfectly Canadian. They also had a mobile take away system for locals so people were constantly coming in to grab a coffee and run – interesting. We took our (slightly weak) coffees to the hotel and spent some time chilling out there and planning our day. 

We kicked it off by heading to south to edge of Lake Ontario, to get a look at the city waterfront. We passed the CN Tower, the Toronto Blue Jays baseball stadium, an old train roundhouse that had been converted into a stylish museum/restaurant area. By the time we reached the waterfront I had started to get another allergic reaction. Once again it happened while walking around outside on vacation – we sat down to wait it out and debate to possible causes. It rarely happens in Japan, but almost always when traveling overseas, and often when we are walking around outside – never inside. So weird. 

After resting a bit we walked along the water, and stopped by a restaurant that sells “beaver tails” – a kind of sweet that was recommended. Unfortunately the place was still closed and this trip we never got to try it elsewhere. Maybe next time. 

We walked all over the downtown area, seeing City Hall, a big shopping center, interesting buildings and parks. Since I had forgotten to pack shorts back in Japan we hit Uniqlo to buy some for me and tried them on. Then we went to Muji for me to buy a small journal to write these notes. All the way from Japan and we went to two Japanese stores. 

Stopped at Queen’s Park, passing through a lot of hospitals and medical centers. On the way back to the hotel we passed many older (historic?) and fairly dilapidated homes – they looked like they were once quite beautiful. Some parts of town were well-preserved but others quite run down. We also walked through a street lined with different Chinese restaurants. It didn’t feel like a Chinatown but for some reason there were many of them gathered here.

Back at our hotel we were having trouble figuring out how to get some clean towels for our second morning. Without staff there was nobody to ask, but they had a sort of janky system where you could send text messages and 15 minutes after sending some we got some response. It took a long time for them to research how to find towels for us and I got the impression that the people responding were in a far away country somewhere consulting a notebook. But finally they told us to go to the second floor and look in a particular closet and we got some. 

We went out later for drinks at Ricarda’s, an Italian place that we noticed more for the decor than the dining. We sat at the bar and Kuniko had prosecco and an açaí margarita (with salt and herbs spread down the outside of the glass), I had some beers. We had some snacks too – truffle arancini and truffle fries, and we did some (slightly) drunken journaling at the bar. 

After a nice nap back at the hotel we went out for dinner at a restaurant nearby called Aloette. It boasted “Canadian” food and the upstairs is their main restaurant (Aloe) that has a Michelin star or two. The cafe version below was a more casual vibe and what we were looking for. It was set up like an old diner with a long counter and booths behind. There was loud music but it was kind of stylish and we liked it. Kuniko had a cocktail sprayed with celery bitters, and I had another local beer. Our bartender was also our waiter, and she seemed pretty no-nonsense with a shaved head and a sort of standoff-ish aura. The place was pretty busy, with people walking close behind us as we sat at the counter.

We had grilled sea bream (with a really tasty cream sauce), lobster pieces with shellfish, and some homemade cheesy bread with some whipped butter. Dessert was a big piece of lemon meringue pie – it was a little tart but I liked it. Not as good as my dad’s version, though.

After dinner we walked down some different streets to see what was happening, with the aroma of marijuana still pretty distinct. As the breeze started turning colder we made our way back to the hotel for a nightcap and an early bedtime (still a little jet lag). Outside we could hear the sounds of partying, though – this area of town was fairly lively. 

We got up early on Wednesday to do some final packing and organizing around the house. I had an errand to run before our flight, so I left early to visit the local DMV in Motomachi to get a fresh international driver’s license. This is a yearly thing now since my US license expired long ago, and now I have the procedure down pat.

Kuniko stayed back to vote, do a final cleaning and close up the house, and we ended up meeting in Sannomiya. The weather was getting really hot – I was wiping sweat continuously – and so we decided to hit a small Italian cafe for some bubbles (and air conditioning). We had lunch at a pretty authentic Chinese restaurant in Santica: tofu noodles, lamb skewers, boiled dumplings, and a couple of small canned highballs to pour over ice. The staff and most of the customers were all Chinese and speaking Chinese to each other – always a good sign.

We caught the bus to Itami airport, and had trouble checking in to the kiosk there. It turns out that since our connecting flight was international the kiosk would not accept our check in, but as usual the kiosk only threw an error and it was up to us to line up and speak to a human to get it sorted out. Our check-in clerk was very helpful and we checked our bag (all the way through to Toronto) and we were on our way.

Once we passed through security we couldn’t find any good restaurants so we ended up buying some Jagarico and some drinks and settled into a quiet corner of the terminal to relax. To buy the food and drinks we tried to use just coins to avoid carrying all that weight overseas, but we came up just two yen short. The clerk was funny and cracked some jokes – not your typical Japanese convenience store clerk.

As we waited for our flight they announced that it would be delayed 15 minutes, which put us under some time pressure in the next airport, Haneda. We had thought we’d have time to visit a wine bar that we like over there, but with the delay we ended up running for our gate. We were told to rush to bus #9, a free shuttle that runs between terminals, and luckily it was pretty quick. The security line was fairly empty – one staff tried to get us to go the long way and Kuniko gave him some sharp words, but then we made it through to immigration and I scribbled down the info on my re-entry form before running with Kuniko to the gate. We made it just as they called our group, and we even had time for the restroom before boarding ourselves. That was close!

We sat in the middle seats near the back of the airplane, with single guys on either side of us. Lots of big people flying home from their vacation in Japan. Kuniko played the hell out of Bejeweled (she got to level 41!!) and I watched a movie or two and slept a bit during the eleven and half hour flight. 

At Toronto airport it took an hour to get through immigration, retrieve our suitcase, and go through customs. Kuniko was trying to explain to the immigration officer that I was “her husband in Japan” which sounded a bit weird but they let her through anyway. 

At the airport we lined up to buy tickets for the train into town. In front of us a guy with no arms had his credit card declined – he used his foot to retrieve it and stepped aside so that we could get our tickets. We took the “express” train to get to downtown Toronto – but it wasn’t a very fast ride. The train felt a little old, and sometimes made weird gasping sounds that Kuniko imitated perfectly. We stopped at some lonely stations along the way – they were modern and clean and empty. 

It was a 25 minute ride to Union Station, and then we pulled our suitcase a fair distance to get to our hotel. The smell of marijuana was thick in the air, something we were both surprised about. It was our first time in Toronto, and it is a pretty big city. Lots of restaurants with people outside enjoying drinks and conversation – we were arriving right as offices were closing up. The vibe was multi-cultural with many Asian people and restaurants around.

We used a code to enter our hotel, which was unstaffed and worked via a digital code system. The room itself was very comfortable and had a nice view of the street and downtown from the sixth floor. 

Back outside we struggled to find an open table at one of the outdoor dining places, eventually we found one that looked promising, the staff helping us almost knocked her iPad off the podium. We sat next to a lively group of four women who looked like they had been drinking for quite a while. Our table must have been near a vent with hot air – even outside we were feeling pretty hot. Kuniko ordered a cocktail, I had a local beer (Creemore IPA) and a zucchini fritti which was mostly batter and didn’t really have much flavor. 

But it was nice to finally arrive, and as I stretched out my arms in the air in contentment I almost punched one of the bus boys walking behind me – oops! 

After our drink I tracked down a place that sold traditional poutine for take out. The place was cool – filled with huge bags of potatoes and a wide variety of different poutines that you could modify to your liking. We got the regular flavor, and then stopped at a supermarket on the way back to get a bottle of Niagara sauvignon blanc and some waters. 

It was nice to snack on the poutine and sip white wine in the hotel – we finally went to hit the sack around 10 pm. It was a long day but we were eager to explore Toronto a bit more the next day.

One of the destinations that I’ve been interested in visiting for a while is the country of Morocco. I’ve really been into seeing the decorations and tile work that make up much of decoration in mosques and other Islamic structures. I think I first got into it back when we toured the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Morocco seemed like a little bit of a challenging destination for us, and we wanted to take the trip in cooler weather rather than the brutal summer. Besides that, we had a connection in Rabat – Yuki’s friend Aida lives there and we thought it would be great to stop in and see her.

When planning the trip I put together some cities I would like to visit – and then with our flight going through Istanbul it seemed like a good idea to work in a few days in Portugal as a sort of decompression before returning to Japan. As it turned out the tiles of Lisbon were their own sort of attraction for me, so it turned into a tile-themed trip.

What follows is a day by day journal of our trip. Hopefully it will keep the journey fresh for us, and if someone else is reading it may be useful for their future trip.

You’ll have to scroll down to see the start of the trip – from December 21st.

Despite staying up late we checked out early, and it was an easy train ride to the airport. As we arrived there we saw thousands of paper tickets spread out all over the ground near the ticket machines – not sure what that was all about. The airport was surprisingly busy as I guess other people know that it is cheap to fly on New Year’s Day. 

We had a quick sandwich (blah) and coffee (meh) and then lined up to check in. As I had bought the next two legs of our trip on Turkish Airlines from two different companies I was anticipating some trouble and sure enough, they only had my information for the first leg. They said we’d need to pick up our suitcase, clear immigration and customs to enter Turkey, and then come right back in and check in for the next leg. But the staff offered to look for my other flight, if I could just provide the tickets.

It sounds easy but it is not. The tickets are actually emails, and each leg is a different email. Each passenger is a different email. I showed the flight reservation code, but that is not what she wanted. Some of the travel companies will not give you a flight ticket number until you log into their sites, and I wasn’t sure off the top of my head which company I had used for which tickets. I searched through all my emails but the answer was not coming up and I was very aware of all the people waiting impatiently behind us. So, I told the staff that we’d step out of line to look for it and come back when I had it. Kuniko was understandably pissed off – why is Bryan so disorganized? Why do we have to wait twice? I just wanted to get out of people’s way instead of flailing under pressure, and once we stepped aside I found the email that had the flight ticket seat number. We lined up in the first class line and luckily we could get the second leg added on and say goodbye to our suitcase until we meet again in Osaka.

Phew! Afterwards the security line was surprisingly long – about a 30 minute wait to get through. A couple in front of us were arguing so I could see how travel stress could affect us all. Finally through the gate we decided to get a little better food at a deli type place. We had a half bottle of Esporao white, a nice piece of quiche, and everything was all right with the world. 

As we headed to our gate, the flight suddenly was marked as final boarding, so we went down the tunnel and got on a bus which took us out to our plane. Despite the final boarding message, it took a long time to fill the plane, with a big group arriving just at the last minute. Maybe due to the security line?

It was four and half hours to Istanbul, easy flight, and a kid with an unusually large head in front of us was enjoying peek a boo with us. Towards the end of the flight I went to use the restroom and was surprised to find some used diapers wadded up in the toilet – those don’t flush! I told the flight attendant and she knew exactly whodunnit – and went after him and his little kid immediately. Yikes!

In Istanbul we did sort of the same thing we had done on the way in – a kebab and beer at one bar, more kefta, beer, and spicy burgers at the sports bar we visited before, walking around stretching our legs, and playing Balatro while waiting. It was a long time to kill. Finally it was time to go to the gate to catch our 10 hour flight to Osaka.

Not much to report after that – I slept seven of the ten hours. The food on the return leg was not so delicious – breakfast was some kind of sweet porridge – but that is the price you pay for cheap flights in economy!

Then it was the familiar slide through Kansai airport – immigration was easy as usual. We had to wait quite a while for our suitcase – long enough to start getting worried that it didn’t in fact make it from Lisbon. But finally it came around the conveyor. We were able to catch a bus. I had bought a ticket for the return bus ride for Kuniko after checking with a staff that it was valid for the future, but on the ticket we found a message that said that it wasn’t. Kuniko had to buy another ticket and we just made it in time. 

Back home we unpacked our loot – the cheese and other goodies all made it safely. What a journey! This trip was our last on our current passports – now we have to stick around Japan until we can get them renewed. Hopefully we’ll be traveling again soon!

I kicked off our second (and last) full day in Lisbon by sleeping in. This was the second time this trip I slept over 12 hours, so my body must need it. We showered up and headed out to try another breakfast place. On our way we walked through the big plaza between the arch and the water, and there was a lot of concert equipment there in preparation for the countdown tonight. The sun was just starting to rise and we got some great photos.

The breakfast place this time wasn’t quite as good as yesterday’s. Here are my raw notes:

“Huge cappuccinos, big avocado toast, one power outage, reasonable prices.”

After a quick stop back at the hotel we decided to go try to hunt down one of those funicular street cars. A google search showed there was one running just a 13 minute walk away, so we hit the hills and started climbing. The neighborhoods here had more tiles to photograph, and we passed a beautiful museum, the Carmo Archaeological Museum, and eventually found the top of the funicular line. Our timing was good to see the car arrive, and then we went next door to take in views of the city from a park nearby. 

On our way back we hit a supermarket to look around. Kuniko found some Moroccan mint tea, made by Lipton. It was weird to me that we were buying Moroccan tea after just having left there, but we tried it later and it was really good. 

We went back to the hotel, packed up and checked out, and then back onto the train heading towards the airport. At the transfer we got off at Oriente station, where we found the weather a little colder. Our hotel was right across the street from the train station, and there was also a shopping center. Beyond the center we could see a ropeway running over the water. 

After leaving our bags at the hotel we took an Uber to get to the National Tile Museum. Surely this would be a great place get my tile addiction taken care of for the long term. We had found mixed results online whether it was open or closed – being New Year’s Eve made things uncertain. But I found a site selling tickets online and they sold me two tickets for today, so we were on. 

But when we arrived we were disappointed to see the place closed. Later I contacted the website and got my money back, but we’ll have to save the museum for another visit. We hailed an Uber and went right on back. Both our Uber drivers were professional and did a great job – big difference from our experience yesterday.

We had the driver drop us off near the water’s edge and we walked along there to get to the entrance of the ropeway. I bought some tickets from the ticket booth – the guy noticed that I had Japanese characters on my credit card and said that he really wants to go to Japan someday. 

The ropeway was fun! As we boarded we politely (I hope) declined the photographer taking a picture of us, but the after that we had great views of the city, the Tagus river, and we could even see the barge that (hopefully) would shoot off fireworks tonight at midnight.

We did a round trip on the ropeway and then got back off and walked through the grounds of a large aquarium, that was doing good business on the holiday. Many other places were closed, and we were starting to get hungry. We went to the big shopping center across from the train station, and found ourselves walking through the big food court and checking our options. We ended up going upstairs where they had more sit-down options, and chose a Belgian beer place that nonetheless sold a local bottled beer. Kuniko had some red wine, we ordered more salt cod confit, and sat in the sun in front of a window overlooking the river. A group of Spanish tourists sat near us so I had a chance to work on my listening comprehension (not good).

For me this was another of those perfect travel moments – comparing and contrasting our current situation to cold days in the Fes riad – we’d come a long way. We had two rounds of drinks here because of the great location, and the staff were again really friendly and helpful. 

Maybe it was because I was under this sort of blissful condition that things went so well at the supermarket. Suddenly all the culinary treasures of Europe lay before us, and the only things standing in our way was a flimsy credit card. Woo-hoo!

We were shopping to stock our hotel room, as our plan was the spend the evening in our room partying until midnight to ring in the new year. The supermarket was a big one, and we weren’t the only ones stocking up. I got four rounds of Portuguese cheese (three to take home, one for tonight), a bottle of Esporao Alicante Bouchet, a bottle of Portuguese sparkling wine, three mini bottles of port (just in case), and then also a salad, some caramelized onion pate, some crackers, and other loot. We hauled it all back to our room with big smiles.

The staff in the hotel opened our wine bottle for us, provided utensils, and provided a lot of extra services for us. So we enjoyed sipping wine, snacking, listening to music, writing in the journal, talking about the trip and remembering the funniest moments. We even got a nap in – staying up until midnight is not something we do often and we needed all the help we could get.

Close to midnight we opened the bubbles and turned off the lights for the countdown. Through our window we could see fireworks off in the distance from about an hour before midnight, and then we had a good view of the fireworks near our hotel when the big moment came. Across the horizon we could see fireworks in other areas of the city – it was a great moment and nice way to finish 2024.

We went to bed soon after, knowing that tonight’s sleep would be the last chance for us to sleep horizontally for a long time. 

We were up surprisingly early after walking so many steps the next day. We had declined the breakfast at this hotel with the hope of going out and getting something a little bit better than “hotel breakfast”. We found a place called “Mil Sabores” that was open early, so we walked a few blocks in the brisk morning air to get there. We passed some beautiful landmarks on the way, and the road maintenance people were out cleaning up from the night before.

The breakfast place was a cafe, not part of a chain, and the lady running it spoke English, so we were all set. We had a ham, egg and cheese omelette (better than Marrakech) and I had a grilled cheese sandwich, along with two cappuccinos (each!) While we enjoyed our hot breakfast the shopkeeper was talking with a couple of what looked like homeless guys. I got a really good vibe from the cafe – it was a nice breakfast place.

We went back to the hotel to get organized and then went outside and hailed a car with the ride hailing app Bolt. Ride hailing was banned in Morocco but it was nice to be able to use an app instead of haggling with taxi drivers over price and having to listen to their sales pitch while driving. 

But we soon found that there are some drawbacks to the app model. Our driver was quiet but most of his attention was focused on his personal phone sitting on his lap – he was either attending a web meeting or watching someone’s presentation. He got us to our destination, but I was surprised how little he paid attention to the road. I’m sure he was getting paid dirt cheap wages to drive, and so I guess we should expect a little more risk for as low as the price was. Still, not a great experience but at least no haggling.

Our destination was The Monument to Discoveries, a dramatic and imposing sculpture in remembrance of historical Portuguese explorers setting out from this point. It was really impressive, even more so with the morning sun shining and backdropped with the blue sky and water. 

From the monument we walked along the river/ocean to the west until we came to the Torre de Belem, a landmark tower with a great view of the Tagus river and the ocean beyond. In this area we started to see a lot of tour buses parked – we weren’t the only ones getting an early start. In the area we also walked through the Jeronimos monastery which had some beautiful exterior architecture in a white gothic style. 

Instead a riding a taxi we decided to walk back and burn some calories. It was not a short walk but gave us plenty of chances to see things that we would otherwise miss. I got lots of photos of tiles, and we passed so many cafes and restaurants that were placed to enjoy the view of the river. We walked over a bridge to a unique platform overlooking the long bridge to the south. The viewpoint was called MAAT, and the modern style indicated that it wasn’t that old. 

Finally we ended up closer to where we started. We popped into a big market that was divided into two sides. The first side we visited was the traditional market – where people would buy ingredients, fish and meat for cooking – but it was about half closed down. However on the other side was the Time Out market, which was packed with small restaurants and food shops selling things that were ready to eat. They had all kinds of local foods, bars that were serving local booze and wine, and some lively music playing. It was a cool vibe, so we thought it would be a good place to take a break. Kuniko bought us some shrimp in a spicy soup with some crusty bread, and I contributed two glasses of Portuguese sparkling wine. The place was full of long tables, and there were big empty spaces, but we were surprised when a group of four people sat right next to us. It felt like someone sitting right next to you in an empty movie theater. 

We continued exploring the city, checking out new areas that we had missed last time. Lisbon is of course a huge city and we were only getting a little taste of it, and the hillsides we went up and down reminded me a bit of San Francisco. Eventually we stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant that was located on a quiet intersection. We sat outside as the day had warmed up, and once again got into the sparkling wine. I ordered a big cheese plate with five or six kinds of cheese and it was fun to taste and compare. We also had salt cod and potatoes, and then some still white wine that I really liked. 

After lunch we checked out local markets, found new year’s traditional roasted suckling pigs piled on a table for the locals. A little grotesque, but I’ll bet they are delicious. We also had to buy some pastel de nata (four of them!) as we had really enjoyed them in Macao and thought it would be weird not to eat them in Portugal.

We spent some time resting our feet and taking a nap in our hotel, and then went back out to get some more wine and food. We went to a wine bar that wasn’t too far away. It was a very stylish restaurant, and the wines they served were all different labels but owned under one wine group. The staff were friendly and fanned out their wine list as a set of cards – we could read about each wine. They also gave some recommendations, and let us taste before pouring our glasses. 

We ate and drank well here, as you might expect. We had two sparkling wines, two rather bold reds, I got a small round of Azeitao cheese (oh yeah) and then we had pork cheeks with potato, mushrooms stuffed with chorizo sausage and quail eggs. We were the only people there because as usual we were starting early, but it was great to try several kinds of wines and eat local foods.

As it was getting dark we wandered the area randomly, turning corners and heading towards things that looked interesting. There were shops selling tinned fish in stylish designs. It was shocking to see that each tin was 9 euros – the price you pay for style! We saw more Christmas trees, some DJs were set up playing really loud music, and again lots of people were just standing around taking it in. 

Finally we went to another wine bar that was close to our hotel, and had port wine for dessert. I had a tawny 10 year port, Kuniko had a white port, and we ate a drunken pear with ice cream on cinnamon sand. Once again the staff were really nice and helpful – we met so many genuinely nice people on this trip. 

Back at our hotel room we realized that the H&M camisole that Kuniko had bought earlier still had the anti-theft tag on it, and so we went back out to get it removed at the store. We waited in line for a cashier – customers were all using their smartphone to look for coupons maybe – so it took a while. But the staff checked our receipt and then remove the tag. She said that next time we don’t need to wait in the line, and I wondered how often this kind of thing happens…

So we headed back (again) to our hotel, and to bed to build up our energy for New Year’s Eve tomorrow.

We didn’t sleep so late this morning, so we had a chance to go to the hotel breakfast right at opening time. 

The same setup as yesterday, although outside the staff were still setting up. The omelette lady was the same one – and she looked just as miserable cooking up our eggs. As we got some food from the buffet we stepped on sticky floors, and then sat down and sipped our cocoa-tasting coffee. The food was about the same, but again I enjoyed the oranges and yogurt. As we ate we had a view of the outside workers, who occasionally ducked behind their work station to use their personal phones. Something was a little off with the vibe of this hotel.

Back in our room we did our final packing and then went downstairs to check out. The front desk got on a radio to a staff member upstairs, who ran and checked our mini-bar situation. I guess they have trust issues with their guests.

The staff hailed a cab for us to the airport. The taxi was in better shape than the ones we used in Casablanca, but our driver spent most of the drive trying to sell us on tour packages. Seemed like an odd thing to do for people going to the airport with their suitcases. As we left central Marrakech we passed an intersection with a group of camels tethered to a tree. It was our first camel sighting in Morocco, if you don’t count the camel burger that we ate.

We had to get through a lot of traffic at the airport, but the driver eventually dropped us off in front of another nicely designed facility. We said that he didn’t have enough change for the bills that I gave him, effectively tipping himself 20% – nice…

We went into the airport and got into the line to check in. In front of us we noticed an interesting relationship – a young Moroccan guy and a much older European woman. They communicated only using translation software on their phones, and we watched as the young man patiently reviewed the pictures of this lady’s cats. It seemed like a temporary international relationship that was wrapping up.

Check in took a long time – some staff that was off duty insisted on walking around to all the agents and they all stopped what they were doing to shoot the breeze with him. Then it was to the immigration line that was packed with stressed, fairly pushy people who were worried about missing their plane. After immigration there was a huge line for the security check, also many highly-stressed people. By the time we made it through to the crowded (and quite small) concourse there was no time for food, so we pulled from the leftover snacks we had been carrying around during the trip. 

Soon enough our flight was called, and we boarded a bus that took us out to our TAP plane to Lisbon. The flight was only half full, and oddly quiet except for a great deal of coughing – I wasn’t the only one fighting off a cold on this trip. The older woman who we had seen earlier with the younger local guy put her bag in the overhead bin and an oddly shaped device was sticking out. I joked to Kuniko that it was a sex toy as the staff struggled to rearrange it and make space.

The flight was just an hour and twenty minutes – and we descended to the airport over the city of Lisbon. There were some beautiful views as we came in. This visit was special as it was the first time we’d ever visited Europe outside of the summer months. I was interested to see if we enjoyed this European visit as much as our summer visits.

We took a bus from the plane to the terminal, had a super easy entry into the EU through automated gates, and our suitcase came right out almost as soon as we got to the carousel. We had been in Morocco so long that we had started getting used to delays – it felt like we had come back to civilization.

We walked to the airport metro station and bought rechargeable cards, then went to wait for the train. It took a while to arrive, and once we boarded there was an angry Santa-esque dude getting off, and soon after that an accordion player looking for tips. We did notice that the stations here didn’t have many escalators, so I had to lug the luggage now and then. We made one transfer, then got off and found our hotel, quite close. 

Check in was quick and our room felt a little like an IKEA showroom corner, but it did have a big space, and seemed comfortable enough. We didn’t stay long, and went right back out to go get some wine at a wine bar I had found online. The place was a few blocks from our hotel, called Wine Bar Antiga. We consulted with the staff to try a few different wines from various areas, and he was very kind and helpful. We started with a white wine and some cod cakes and goat cheese rolls. For a second round we ordered some Port, and a local red along with a cheese platter (Portuguese cheese – just as good as I remembered). It wasn’t until I had the cheese that I realized that I had a good chance to eat more of one of my favorite cheeses ever – Azeitao. I’d have to keep my eyes open.

Behind us a table of three American women were chatting with a white guy who said he was from Hong Kong who was traveling with a much younger companion. The more they drank the more everyone was getting along. 

After our wine break we started walking – all over the place. We walked down to the ocean, the Arco da Rua Augusta, and at the Se de Lisboa cathedral there was some kind of huge event – maybe related to Christmas? As we walked a few guys tried to sell us marijuana – I guess we fit the profile of potential buyers. We also saw the Lifta Santa Lusta, which is an architectural oddity placed right in the middle of the city. Near there we happen to walk by right when a Chinese lady had a freak out. She suddenly started screaming, with nobody around here, and a local guy walking by told her to shut up. Travel can be stressful sometimes.

We had last been to Portugal way back in 2014 – about ten years ago – and I had forgotten just how important tiles are to the architectural style here. I spent lots of time taking pictures of tiles in Morocco, and I had accidentally lined up another tile-focused country on our itinerary. Once again Kuniko had to be patient with me as I snapped away at tile work that caught my eye.

We were still doing lots of walking, hitting landmarks that we wanted to see but also enjoying the cooler weather and European vibe. Heading north we walked alongside a street lined with trees that led to a large park, set up with a Christmas festival. A big Ferris wheel stood next to a large Christmas tree. Many families and young couples were walking around, playing games and buying food from stands, and I was surprised how many stands were specialized in wine by the glass sales. I guess parents need more wine than most. 

Eventually all the crowds started to grate on us a little so we headed back towards our hotel. As we went we passed many buildings with Christmas displays and projection mapping – they had big crowds watching and listening to the music, filming with their phones. I’m not sure why this was so attractive to everyone – it was basically a Christmas themed commercial – but we had to take more time to thread through these standing crowds.

We took a 20 minute break at our hotel , and then headed out to our dinner restaurant choice. To get there we followed Google maps, which took us down some dark, deserted streets. I was a little nervous – strange cities always seem more dangerous after dark – but we were fine, and I got some good pictures out of it. 

The restaurant was called Floras da Pampa, and it had a stylish interior and cozy vibe. There weren’t so many customers at first, but later they really started to come in. This place was a hit for us – good vibe, food and wines. We ate Hispi cabbage (signature dish?), spicy mussels with cilantro, and a codfish confit. I had missed salt cod – so tasty!

I drank a local IPA, then changed to a red wine that was really good called “Chamine”. I liked that even with the glass wine the staff in the restaurants we visited offered a taste to see if you like it first. Usually in other countries you just take whatever they have.

As we left this restaurant the nightlife was starting to open up – that’s standard for us in Europe as we often eat way earlier than everyone else. Nearby we checked out the Black Sheep wine bar (a recommendation from Nastya at Aida’s place in Rabat) as a possibility for tomorrow, and it was really packed. 

We walked back to our hotel and found a cheesy souvenir shop with a great keychain that we will convert to a tree ornament when we return. Score! The staff at this shop were really nice to us – even though we were doing some drunken keychain shopping. 

I took quite a few more photos on our way back, and then we retired to our hotel to write in this journal and get some sleep. Good to be back in Europe!

I slept a solid 12 hours, surely a sign that I was on the road to a recovery. Still coughing more than normal, but I felt like I had a little more energy. While I slept through, Kuniko was sleeping on and off.

I tried out our shower but the overhead rain style shower head had a significant leak that sprayed most of the water directly upwards into the ventilation fan, causing a subsequent spray of H2O in every direction. A later phone call to the staff was necessary to tighten the head and stop the leak. Afterwards it worked admirably.

Today we had a chance to have the first of our two hotel breakfasts. We had a wide open schedule today and no big travel, so I was looking forward to a slow paced breakfast. When we arrived the layout was a little unusual – they had the usual buffets and coffee machines inside with most of the tables, and outside next to the pool (but in the dark) were some other stations – a flatbread maker, an omelette station, and a fresh juice station. There was a long line in front of the omelette station that I joined later on.

The coffee machine that I used produced only hot cocoa, no matter which button you pressed. We changed to another machine and it dispensed chocolatey coffee that was quite sweet – again, no matter which button I pressed. The food itself was OK but not abundant in flavor – my favorite item was the fresh oranges that were remarkably sweet after I peeled them. The staff seemed friendly enough, but just an overall weird vibe to the place. 

We went back to the room for a short rest and then went out to make our souvenir purchases at Carrefour. We got a load of stuff at the shop, carrying out a big bag of various candy bars and dried fruit local to Morocco. On our way back we found another Carrefour, so we carefully dug out the receipt from the first Carrefour shop, and carried it with us while we shopped at the second Carrefour. We found more of what we wanted to get, so when we checked out I had the receipt ready to show but the cashier didn’t really seem to care. But when walking out the door another staff politely asked us to hold up, and then asked us, “English or French?” We used English to explain that we had done shopping somewhere else and he reviewed the receipt and then gave us a kind farewell. At first I thought it was strange that the cashier didn’t say anything, but now that I think about it maybe they wanted to give us every opportunity to pay before asking us. Interesting experience.

We came back to the hotel with all our loot, souvenir shopping for the trip basically done. I was aiming to head to the famous market square in Marrakech called Jmaa El-Fnaa, but I heard that it changes from a quiet square to a vibrant and lively marketplace from afternoon to evening. So I wanted to time our arrival so we didn’t have to wait too long in the market. We spent about an hour in our room (playing Balatro) and then took a long walk to the medina of Marrakech. We walked mainly in the sun, using shade when we could – it was one of the few times where we could shed our jackets during the trip. 

Near the main square we stopped to visit the holy building of Koutoubia, which had a large tower that was acting as shade for a big squad of pigeons. From there it was just a short walk to the big square that I remembered seeing so often in movies (James Bond) and TV (Amazing Race). A couple of people asked us if we wanted guides but were super chill when we turned them down – a contrast from the guys in Fes. 

The square was starting to get lively, we caught it right in the transition. There were plenty of shops and guys with monkeys, snakes (cobras) and dance groups playing loud music to get attention. The animal handlers would try to get you to pay if you took photos, so we had to sneak around behind. It was a little sad to see this kind of stuff though – the monkeys, the handlers, even the cobras didn’t look too happy to be there. 

There were black guys selling sunglasses everywhere, looking determined and motorcycles criss-crossing the crowds, sort of mildly controlled chaos. I guess this is what people sign up for when they come, Marrakech was delivering. 

We found our lunch place – La Farmacerie – on the outside of the square. Since the square was so big and crawling with so many people it was common for restaurants to be on the upper floors with terraces to look down on the chaos. Our restaurant had a terrace on the ground floor and as I waited for the staff to notice us a guy came from behind me and asked if we wanted to be up on a terrace or on the ground floor. Something about the way he approached and asked seemed fishy – it turned out that he was trying to poach us away to another restaurant upstairs. The staff at our target restaurant were remarkably chill about this – maybe they had some arrangement. Anyway, we found the another staff member who let us sit at nice tables on the ground floor facing the square. 

This restaurant was really good! The location was great, next to a big spice shop that was getting a lot of photo attention. Our seats were in the shade but we had a clear view of the chaos of the square. While we watched some street performers set up a super loud dance routine before a policeman came and moved them along (for some reason). In front of us one of the customers was a twin of Mr. Yamaji back home. And the food was excellent, too.

We started with some appetizers that really hit the spot – garlicky carrots, pickled beets and heavily herbed olives. We had some juices – Kuniko once again had avocado juice with milk – yum! For mains we split some chicken skewers (not bad but not revolutionary), but the big hit was a dish called erghayef khliie – don’t know how to pronounce it. They were spicy flatbreads with beef baked inside, so good!

After eating we decided to walk through the markets. They were wider and cleaner than Fes, but basically the same stuff that we had seen in previous cities. One area was sketchy – with exotic animals that were probably illegal to buy/sell in other countries. They even sold shark eggs in water – hmm…. We circled around through the square one last time, getting our final taste of the Moroccan marketplace, and then headed back on a slow walk towards our hotel.

Along the way we found a museum/community center that featured many of the tiles that I had been so impressed with, so it was a chance to take more photos. Later we stopped at a sports bar to grab a cocktail. The place reminded me of a dive bar back in the USA, a little smoky with an emphasis on cheap booze. 

Not satisfied with that experience we stopped in another place that was also a hotel, it was advertising a rooftop bar. We missed the elevator and ended up climbing five flights of stairs, but found a pool and a bar on top. They had better cocktails (although a little sweet and more expensive) and we also ordered three types of croquettes: chicken, shrimp and cheese. Kuniko and I were in high spirits thanks to the booze and the feeling of wrapping up our visit to this country. The staff were all very friendly and welcoming, and it was a nice stop.

Finally we went back to the hotel, having walked a significant distance. It was still early but we holed up in our room so that I could catch up on my journal writing and think about packing for our flight to Portugal tomorrow.