October 21

Today, we have a full day of trekking. But first we started with our Javas and a yogurt each, a bit of bread with PB or butter. Then we set out, first we went to The Hanoi Opera House. It was built in 1901 to 1911 by the then French colonial administration, therefore it is a great example of French Colonial Architecture, but the only way inside is to go to a show. It so happens that performing tonight is – 'The Arts of the Concerto, the 3rd International Classical Music Festival'. We were interested, so we bought tickets – Yeah!! (more on the performance later).

Next we walked along the lake and went back to Pho Thin for some of that fantastic Pho. We were here October 7th in our previous Hanoi venture, and had to come back. The Pho was as good as we remembered! We even had a poached egg each again. UMM!! Tummies now full we trekked on.

The day was very cloudy. As we were walking it did start to rain on us – we ducked under an awning as scooters were all pulling over to don their raingear. So many ponchos are purple -it's like a sea of purple with flashes or accents of color whizzing by. We did not have to wait long and it stopped raining. We were passing yet another coffee shop and Jeff said lets stop. They had Salt Coffee, which I had not yet had. So I got an Iced Salt Coffee, and Jeff had an Iced Salt Chocolate, as it is so muggy and we did not need hot drinks. They were both served with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Both were great!

Now we went to the Temple of Literature – but more accurately should be called Temple of Confucius. We paid 70K Dong ($2.76) each, and enter through the main gate with many other tourists. The temple was established in 1070. We meander through courtyard after courtyard – total eventually of five courtyards. There is a great metal art sculpture in the second courtyard – where it is just metal pieces until you are standing at a certain place and it is clearly a man holding a pen, maybe Ho Chi Minh. As we left this courtyard for the third we pass through a pavillion, Khue Van Cac, which is recognized as the Icon for Hanoi. According to the placard,… “the beautiful Khue Van Cac is a symmetrical building that represents humility, clarity, and refinement.” I don't know about that, but it is beautiful architecture. It was built in 1805 and it makes these this courtyard flow into the next. This third courtyard had Stone Stelae, which are engraved with “valuable historical resource for the study of philosphy history, culture, education, society, and sculpture in Vietnam. The Stelae were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Registar in 2011.” Interesting fact, in 1960 these Stelae were protected during the war by being buried in sand and then surrounded by a concrete wall! Each sculpture of a Stela is carried by a turtle. There were quite a few other sculptures here; places of worship; a bell tower and a drum tower; a museum of sorts- to the King Ly Nhan Tong, who was the king right after this temple was built and was noted as “a brilliant, humanitarian, knowlegable king”. He had the first National University built here according to the placard.

Next we walked to The Hanoi Flag Tower, built in 1805-1812. The placard states, “…overall height 33.4 m” (109.5 feet)…and “a national flag flies atop the tower day and night since Oct 10, 1954 to now”. The weather was pretty calm, but we finally had a slight breeze and I got a picture of the Vietnamese flag unfurling. You can not go inside the tower, so we moved on.

We head to the Citadel. As we approached we went the wrong way and did about 3/4 around it to the entrance– it is a big complex.. oh well, more steps, right?. We did pass by the North Gate of the complex – a placard states it was the only one of five gates to survive the Vietnam French War. (We also pass a Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Hanoi – Queen of Martyers. The outside of the church really popped against the sky.) Finally, we arrive at the entrance of The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long-Hanoi, we were directed across the street to buy tickets (which was false and we ended up getting a combo ticket for an archeological site… more on that later). Anyway, this place is a World heritage site, due to, “its longevity (more than 1,300 years); its continuous role as a seat of power; and the cultural layering seen in its archeological and built structures.” Also the placard mentions a citadel has been here since when Chinese administrators ruled and then later Vietnamese Emperors. Also it was the headquarters of North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War with America. We saw the East gate and the South Gate, which is the main entrance to what was the Forbidden City and where the Emperor's palace was. Supposedly this “existing structure dayes from the early Le So dynasty (1428-1527), with restoration works during the Nguyen dynasty (1800's- early 1900's). It is two storied and we are allowed to climb up. There are all sorts of placards with history of differing dynasties relating to this gate along the way up. At the top, vistas were nice back to the Flag Tower. From the gate we meander through various small exhibitions of different archeological pieces found in the citadel. We also pass by the area that was the palace – all that remains is stone Dragon Steps. They are from 1467, according to the placard, and are roped off, but out in the elements and quite viewable. Anyway, there was quite a lot more here but that was the highlights, including the second part of the combo ticket – it was for an archeology site that was a wash, literally. The roofing is mostly holes and the site is all covered due to the rain nothing really to see except tarps.

From here we walked over to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, but it really started raining and I could not go in with shorts (Jeff could with his shorts, though). Anyway, we called it now (that was a last strike out). We caught a Grab Taxi to the laundry place and picked it up. Then we did a trek to our place. We unloaded and walked over to Bun Cha Dac Kim to get Bun Cha (we had been here before also, and ordered that great grilled pork soup with all the fixings. This was also as good as we remembered. Finished we went back to our place and now had a siesta.

We cleaned up and at 1930 caught a Grab taxi to the Opera House. We arrived, explored some, then went to our seats. It is beautiful inside – a grand staircase, great chandeliers, and somewhat gold guilded. The Concerto commenced 10 minutes late, but was very profressional and a delight to listen to. There was four different pieces played by musicians who have perfected mastery of their instrument. We realized it has been a long time since we listened to a music performance – we could not remember the last one. That's bad! Because we enjoyed it so much. We will definitely have to do this more!! We hired a Grab and went back, getting to bed by 2300.