Travel, Vancouver

Vancouver to Whistler

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Let’s continue talking about my summer trip to Vancouver, Whistler, and ultimately, Alaska.

Day 5:

It was Louie’s last morning of the conference and we had to check out, so I took care of that and stored the bags at the hotel before heading out for my last morning of solo sightseeing. I walked to the Roedde House Museum, which is an old house from 1893 that has been restored and decorated with stuff from the period it was from.

There were a few people there at the same time, but the person from the museum tried to go around and give some information and answer questions. The house was very neat, though she thought I wouldn’t be too impressed as St Louis has tons of old houses, hah! We don’t have that many house museums though, so it was still a lot of fun.

After visiting the museum I headed to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch and enjoyed some Pho.

Then it was time to get back to the hotel to meet Louie–we had to walk a few minutes to the bus stop, where were taking the YVR Skylynx bus to Whistler! It was easy to find the bus stop and we (as usual) got there a little too early. We boarded the bus with no problems, and then settled in for about a 2 hour bus ride. It was a very scenic ride along the Sea to Sky Highway, but I did fall asleep for part of it.

We got to Whistler and then went to find our hotel. I had chosen the Adara Hotel for a good price, decent location, and good reviews. It was a little tricky to find–navigating a pedestrian area like Whistler reminded me of navigating in Tokyo, where you would find it but then not find what you were looking for! But we managed, and we got checked in, and were able to enjoy the hot tub as well–it was an outdoor hot tub by the pool, on a rooftop of sorts, but really just the second floor.

Whistler is a very nice, but very high end ski resort. It reminded me of Vail, and I assume costs to ski and such are similar, though the restaurants were cheaper. That might have been an exchange rate thing though. We had an evening restaurant at Alta Bistro–we sat outside and it was so lovely! We got a prix fix menu which gave us a few choices and a few courses, and wow, it was amazing!

We started with oysters, which I enjoy but Louie enjoys more than me.

You can see it was a beautiful location! The outside patio was lovely, and the service was friendly and timely. We enjoyed watching some birds as well.

Note to self for next trip: take pictures of the MENU as well so I know what we got. There was also dessert but it was getting dark by then so the pictures weren’t any good. We walked back to the hotel, satisfied and happy, glad to be in Whistler for two nights!

Day 6:

We woke up and got breakfast at Mogul Coffee–very nice overnight oats and coffee. Then we stopped into a grocery store to get snacks and sandwiches for the day.

Initially I had planned for us to take the gondolas up and do the High Note Hike on this day, but it wasn’t open yet for the season (too much snow still I guess!). The gondolas on Whistler Mountain weren’t open in the morning either, so we found our way to Blackcomb Gondola and took the gondola up. You have to buy a daily pass for the gondolas, which isn’t cheap, but you can ride all day. Once you buy it, you might as well use all of the ones that you can!

Don’t tease the bears!

The gondola ride was very scenic, though the air was a bit hazy with smoke from nearby (not too nearby thankfully) wildfires.

I believe that is Green Lake.

We headed out on the path after arriving and using the bathrooms (there’s a whole infrastruture with a ski restaurant, shop, etc on the top.)

We did the Overlord Trail and the Lakeside Loop, and were thinking maybe the Decker Loop, but it was a bit too steep for me at the beginning, so Louie and I decided to split up.

But first we were together for awhile, enjoying the fresh air and piney smell from high elevation. You sure don’t get that in St Louis! We saw a marmot pretty early in the hike as well, which was a lovely bonus.

I mean, really, this hike was phenomenally beautiful. Words cannot describe it. I took a million pictures (only a slight exaggeration) because I just couldn’t stop myself.

It was a fairly busy hike, so when we decided to split up we knew each of us would be okay on our own because there were plenty of people around. I did slip once and landed right on my butt, but my hiking poles helped me fall more slowly (ha!) and I was okay.

When I got back close to the appropriately named Rendezvous Lodge, where Louie would meet me when he was done, I saw another marmot. This one stayed in view for some time and allowed me to take quite a few pictures of him.

I ate my lunch and then after awhile Louie found me. We took the Peak to Peak Gondola across the mountain to Whistler Mountain. This was an insane ride, the gondola is so high up and it is a little scary if you have a fear of heights, but was amazingly fun!

Then we did a shorter hike on Whistler Mountain as we couldn’t resist. This hike went down first and up later, which is pretty much nobody’s favorite, but it had amazing views as well.

We posed with the Olympic Rings: the skiing parts of the Vancouver Olympics were held in Whistler.

We took a gondola down, finally, towards the end of the day. We got our own gondola (it wasn’t very busy) and really enjoyed the views on the way down as well. It was fun to have a private gondola and chat without worrying about other people correctly us or annoying them.

We got back to the hotel then (very short walk from the Whistler Gondola) and decided to hit up the hot tub again (after cleaning up first, of course.) Our hotel had also given us a coupon for two free “welcome drinks” so we wanted to take advantage of it. Unlike the day before when the pool and hot tub were crowded, we were the only ones out there. We ordered our free drinks at the bar/restaurant that was right there, planning to drink them outside, but then after we ordered, it started raining! So we decided to go into the restaurant for our drinks, even though we only had our robes over our swimsuits. Vacation is here, baby!

I seem to be wearing some sort of shorts too, so I guess I didn’t JUST have my robe.

For dinner we chose a nearby, highly rated Mexican place called Mexican Corner. There was a short wait to get seated, but then we enjoyed our food quite a bit.

We split a ceviche appetizer and then I had enchiladas with mole sauce. It was delicious, especially after all the hiking! Everything tastes better after a day of hiking.

We weren’t quite ready for bed after dinner so we walked around a little more.

I guess Sean had an accident.

The Adara Hotel: not fancy, but totally nice enough. We would stay here again, especially if the price were right, which it was for this visit.

The next day we will have the morning in Whistler and then back to Vancouver, so I’ll tell you about that soon!

Travel, Vancouver

Vancouver 2026: Days 3 and 4

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Days 1 and 2

Day 3: Louie and I decided to branch out from the hotel for breakfast, to save money. We ended up at Olivier’s La Boulangerie, which was right around the corner from our hotel AND the reviews online raved about their almond croissants. It was a bit of a wait because only one poor woman was taking orders and filling orders–we assumed somebody was running late or something. But the coffee and pastries were good, so we were happy. Then Louie headed off to his conference and I headed to my tour: a walking tour called “Ancient Trees of Vancouver” which met at Third Beach in Stanley Park.

I took an uber or lyft to the park and then got there a little early. I wandered around first.

Third Beach and the English Bay in the background.
Love the mossy rocks and the oil tankers waiting their turns. They get there early because if you are late it costs insane amounts of money.
More mossy rocks! Yay! And birds.

There were about 8-10 on the tour, and we met up easily and then headed out. We would be walking a few miles through the park learning about the trees. The previous year Louie and I had done a bike tour that went around Stanley Park so I was excited to do something a bit different.

Our guide was named Colin and he was very informative and entertaining.

The tour was great. I loved walking through the forest and learning about the trees, and the weather was amazing. I loved seeing the trees and the ferns, which are so different than we have here in St Louis. We learned a lot, and I gained a better understanding of the history of Vancouver and Stanley Park as well. I felt very educated afterwards, and wanted to save all the big trees!

I saw an excellent slug. This is what really gets me excited on a trip.
An old picture of the trees where the trees are. Trees can live for a long time!
Standing next to a big tree. This reminds me that it’s been too hot in St Louis to wear jeans until just recently. We really need to steal Vancouver’s weather somehow.
Nature finds a way.
Another big tree, with me.

After the tour, Louie asked me to meet for lunch, so I got an uber to Horin Ramen, which was a ramen place we had eaten at last year and loved.

They had aprons and I figured, better do it. Plus, the Japanese do.

We greatly enjoyed our lunch, and then we headed our separate ways again. I went to the Bill Reid Gallery to see his art and other art by native people. It was very well done, small but well curated.

Then I went back to the room to relax and regroup. I read a bit and rested my feet until Louie was done. We did have a little time then so we hit the hot tub to relax a bit before dinner.

For dinner we headed to Salmon and Bannock. It’s Vancouver’s only Indigenous restaurant and we were intrigued to try it.

This is bannock.
Game sausages with blueberries
Bison bone marrow. We weren’t sure about this one, dare we eat a bison, but the server really suggested it. It was delicious thank you bison!

And then we also had mains, so we were stuffed by the end.

Since it was still light after dinner, we decided to walk back rather than get a lyft, so we enjoyed a nice walk. It was the same bridge I’d walked over the day before, but I knew enough that we needed to be on the left side going towards downtown.

After dinner, we were pretty tired, so we just went to bed.

Day 4: This day I slept in just a tad, and had coffee in the room and Louie headed out without me, then I headed out to Granville Island when I was ready. I walked there and then took the Aqua Bus to the Island.

On the Aqua Bus
Looking at the Aqua Bus from the dock.

We had biked through Granville Island the year before, but we hadn’t explored it, so I wanted to give myself time to shop and walk around before an afternoon boat tour.

I found a really interesting book store and couldn’t resist buying a few things I hadn’t heard of. I also got some postcards and prints.

Timmy Turtle Romantic Outfit.
I’d seen these silos from above on the bridge, and now I saw them from the road.

I wandered around quite a while, and then got lunch at a Thai restaurant called Sen Pad Thai that was in the food court area of the Market. After lunch it was time to meet my boat tour. I’d signed up for a Boat to Bowen Island on Unesco Howe Sound Fjord with Vancouver Water Adventures.

On the boat!

It was a fun ride. We drove about 1 hour or so, from Granville Island to Bowen Island, with a few scenic stops on the way, to look at some fancy houses and a little island covered in seals.

At Bowen Island, we had some time to walk around–there wasn’t much to see, but we got a coupon for a free drink or ice cream, and there were a few shops and a pier.

The way back we saw more seals, eagles, and cormorants. I had a new DSLR camera with a long lens to try out.

This is a cormorant. They have a unique thing they do where they look like that.
One of a few bald eagles we saw. Nothing like we’ll see in Alaska, but more than I usually see in Parkview at home.
The mountains were lovely, coming up out of the water–this was the Unesco Biosphere part of the tour.
I had the edge on the way back, and ended up getting some nice seabreeze and seawater on me.

Anyway, after I got back, I took an uber back to the hotel to meet Louie again. I believe we may have gone to the hot tub again, but maybe not. My notes and memory are foggy and unclear.

And then it was time for the conference gala: a Night at the Aquarium!

We got there a little early due to a time confusion, but ended up chatting and getting to know one of Louie’s colleagues. Then we entered the Aquarium, which is also in Stanley Park. I expected there would be a dining room of sorts, but instead there were just a bunch of stations and tables throughout the whole park. This was good and bad: bad because the stations had huge lines and nobody really knew what was going on at first, but good because it was really fun to eat near the animals! We ended up outside near the seals and sea lions, and I had a nice time chatting with Louie’s colleagues, some who I already knew and others I met for the first time. I didn’t do any pictures for some reason, I think wanting to seem more professional and less touristy, so this is what you get:

Anyway, it was a fun night, and afterwards, we got an uber back to the hotel for our last night there. And that’s where I’ll leave you.

Random thoughts

More September Happenings

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It’s hard to believe September is almost over! Mostly because we have spent the month roasting in high 90’s temperatures here, and even today we are expected to see 90 degrees. So it still feels like summer, even as the fall workload takes over.

I have been working hard. Lots of students (45 counting my college students) and lots of gigs. Mostly it’s been weddings and some I’ve had to organize, so lots of putting music together in digital setlists and lots of communication. Coming up there’s Bach Society and a musical (Death Becomes Her) so I’m trying to get prepared for that. I’ve also been hitting the gym two to three times a week, and doing a weekly stretch session, which has been super helpful.

But we’ve been having fun as well, though a bit too aggressively at times: it’s easy to get to the end of the day and wish you could just stay home and relax instead of going to the play you bought tickets for! But that’s how I like to make a full life, by filling it, ha!

As usual I hit a low point on the Katy Trail. I never tire of making sure to pose for this picture.

We went to Black Mountain STL for dinner one night and it turned out to be a “pop-up” night there, so we enjoyed “Nugs and Bubs” instead. Then we went next door to see “The Mercy Seat” with St Louis Actors Studio at the Gaslight Theater.

Another night we saw “Come From Away” at Stages and then got a late dinner at Katie’s Pizza.

And another night I met a friend to see “Little Women” at the St Louis Rep.

The cats are worn out just thinking about it!

Then Louie and I got dressed up and hit our neighborhood’s Oktoberfest Party. In September, don’t judge. His outfit is from my dad, circa 1973 and my outfit is from online, circa 2026. We made a good pair, I think. Perhaps we also have our Halloween costumes already, as we may need to dress up for a party this year.

Louie is also wearing the Oktoberfest T-shirt from the previous year, though the straps cover up a graphic of a squirrel wearing Lederhosen. We didn’t do T-shirts this year. Anyway, the party was great fun: we talked with a bunch of people, ate pretzels and bratwurst, and drank beer from a keg, which is always a good time. I made an Apple Kuchen, though I had some trouble with the recipe: first I couldn’t find the one I’d made before, then thought I did, and realized it was a completely messed up recipe, probably somehow made by AI (I’m being absolutely serious, there is no way anyone submitted that recipe as it was a hot mess and didn’t work) and ultimately I had to start all over using the recipe…from my blog. Oops. I was too tired really and tried to do too much that week and rushed it. A lesson was learned, and all the kuchen got eaten anyway!

This weekend we are going to a symphony concert and hoping to get a hike in, weather permitting. October will fly by because there is a ton happening: regular work, a show at the Fox for two weeks, Louie’s birthday, and of course, Halloween. Let’s hope we get to at least enjoy some lovely fall weather before the ice and cold comes to get us!

Vancouver

Vancouver and Alaska Trip 2026: Vancouver Days 1 and 2

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Louie and I have been slowly ramping up our travel budgets and our travel days. We’ve always taken vacations in the summer, but as we’ve gotten older, we have wanted to travel more. I’ve gained confidence in my travel planning, and I’ve found myself wanting to go more places and see more things than I ever did before. There’s also a sense of, who knows what the future will bring, that came after COVID and so, we didn’t JUST go to Japan last summer.

This trip started with a conference. Louie had to decide which summer conference he wanted to attend, and he ended up deciding on one in Vancouver. Now, you may recall we visited Vancouver last summer–

And we absolutely loved Vancouver. We also loved taking a cruise to Alaska. When we first started talking about Vancouver, Louie said, oh maybe we should go on the Zaandam again. And we laughed, and he kept saying it, probably because he thought he was funny. (He is.) And I kept saying, no, no, no. And then one day I thought, what if we don’t go on the Zaandam, but we go on a one way trip instead, to make it different while doing Alaska again? And then I had to convince Louie…but usually once I get something in my head and really want to do it, he can be convinced. He did feel guilty about the amount of time we were traveling, but I didn’t.

Anyway, so after Japan, we did a lot of stuff: teaching for me, hosting visitors, visiting family over the 4th of July weekend (which was a reach trip because we already were gone so much, but not for family), and I played some gigs and stuff too. Louie worked, researched, and got a poster ready for his conference. I made plans for myself during the conference: I’ve learned that it’s easy to just relax and meet him for meals, but really I need to do more sightseeing in order to make myself get out of the hotel room.

The other thing that happened last year, the day before the trip, was the tornado. Thankfully the weather the day before our trip was just fine.

Day 1: July 11

Our flight left very early, at 6:37 am. Louie and I got to the airport too early, and had breakfast and coffee there. We saw his boss there, who was also going to the conference and was on our flight.

The flight was fairly uneventful, until the end, when we landed on time, but then waited. And waited. And we realized, we are probably not going to make our connection. We were supposed to connect in LAX and had about an hour to make the connection, and suddenly we had way less time than that. The flight attendant told us not to worry…but we did. And finally we were at the gate, and the flight attendant got on the intercom, and asked for those of us with tight connections to raise our hands, and for everybody to look around, and to let us go first. And…unbelievably this worked, and we got off the plane first! Then we had to get on a shuttle to the terminal, which involved waiting for the driver…we had said, we are about to miss our flight, and they seemed completely uninterested. And then we basically ran to the gate, because it was almost “doors closing” time, and then discovered, boarding had just begun and that flight was late. WHEW.

Anyway, we landed in Vancouver, collected our bags (I had checked one), cleared customs, and hopped on the Sky Train to get to downtown Vancouver. The plan was to either check into the hotel or drop bags, and then get a late lunch.

Our home for the first few days was the Sutton Place Hotel, a nicer hotel than I would ever choose, but it was well placed for the conference and was one of the cheaper conference hotels. We dropped off our bags and got lunch at a place called Miso Taco: Japanese/Mexican fusion, the best of both worlds. They were playing a World Cup game, so we watched that while chatting and eating.

Ooh yummy fresh food. I leaned into the Japanese side of things rather than the Mexican side. After lunch Louie and his boss headed to the conference, and I was on my own for a few hours. I wandered around, tried to go to a museum but got stuck finding the entrance because there was a private event, and eventually just went to a grocery store near our hotel to sightsee and then got a coffee. After that I went to actually check in, and got the bags into the room and such.

Our home for the next 4 nights!

Nooch pop!

I had some work to do on my computer so I did that for awhile, waiting for Louie to return from the conference. He had already eaten at a reception, but walked with me to a nearby pub where I had a mushroom burger and we watched another World Cup game, before crashing.

Day 2: July 12

Today was Louie’s Poster Presentation! But I wasn’t planning to attend: I was there to sightsee not crash the conference. I had plans anyway: I had purchased a ticket to see “Come From Away” in the afternoon.

Louie and I had a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant. They had a lovely looking buffet, but it was pricey and more than we needed, so we got a la carte.

The view from the room.

After breakfast, Louie headed to his conference and I decided to walk to the Museum of Vancouver and go there first, then walk to the Stanley Theater where the musical would be. I enjoyed the Museum and my walk across the Burrard Bridge. It was a lovely day!

I was having a really good hair day too.

The Museum was quite interesting: basically it told the story of Vancouver, from the indigenous people to the modern day. I learned quite a lot, though I moved quickly (I love traveling alone sometimes for this reason.)

Where Vancouver is used to just be covered with giant trees.
An excellent parking spot, ha!
Tv’s used to be smaller and squarer.

After the museum, I headed towards where the show would be. I was craving sushi, but the place I found that was open..actually wasn’t. So I ended up getting a poke bowl at a place that was fine, but not great.

I popped into some shops and shopped until it was time for the musical.

I had never seen Come From Away and thought it would be fun to see it in Canada. I was correct. It was a fabulous show and I had a great seat in the front row!

After the show I walked back to the hotel over a different bridge that I didn’t like as well, it seemed a little scarier and had a more narrow sidewalk.

And then I headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

Louie got home a little later, and then we went out for our dinner reservation. There were some izakayas in Vancouver, so we couldn’t resist trying one out, which was very near the hotel. We went to Guu Original Thurlow for dinner.

We ordered quite a few dishes to share, and enjoyed them. It wasn’t like Japan, but it didn’t feel like Canada either!

We were both exhausted after dinner, still getting used to the time change, plus it was a long day, so we just went home to bed.

I’ll stop there for today!

Random thoughts

Still Summer

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Though it’s almost fall officially, and school has been in session for weeks, it is still summer here. I had an outdoor gig yesterday and it was 96 degrees, plus humidity, heat index of 108 or so. It was possibly the most miserable I have ever been playing the violin, or at least on the hot end of things. I didn’t think ahead to have something to wipe the sweat off my neck, so I kept using tissues and it was just gross. Especially since I detest wet tissues.

I have another outdoor gig today, but I’m thinking ahead and have a cloth packed to wipe my neck as needed. It may be slightly cooler, we will see. The forecast seems to predict that starting Sunday things will cool down, but…I’ll believe it when I see it. This is definitely our payback for those cooler weeks in June, or maybe just our payback for burning all those fossil fuels.

This has been a busy week, well, it’s getting into a busy couple of weekends. I was just getting used to teaching more and now the concerts start. I really just want to go on another trip, can’t I do that instead? We did see a play last night and have tickets for a musical on Saturday night, so it’s not all work, but there’s little time to relax. It’s always the issue with planning things, you know, you then have to do them.

I’ve been keeping up my gym going, which has been a lot of fun. The Wash U gym is a busy place, but I find the mid-morning time works pretty well (I get there between 8 and 9 usually, I bet it’s even a little better around 10 but my schedule usually doesn’t allow that.) I created a weight lifting routine using AI (I know, I know, but it was THERE) and have been tracking it on my phone. I also do the stairclimber for a short while and treadmill uphill when I have time. It’s a 15-20 minute walk each way to the gym so a visit takes at least 1 1/2 hours, which does require planning.

TV wise: I’ve been slowly watching the remake of The Little House on the Prairie. It’s not very good, but I’m watching it anyway. Louie and I finished watching the second season of 100 Years of Solitude on Netflix: I thought it was very good. I have not yet read the book. We started The Gentlemen Season Two but kind of hate it so I think we are going to abandon it for something better. The first season was much better.

Books: I’ve been reading mysteries, plus Their Eyes Were Watching God for an upcoming book club meeting. Have I mentioned reading Whistler and Yesteryear? The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova, enjoyed it quite a bit though it was an emotional read. I need to get into more serious books and stop scrolling so much, probably.

Cat shenanigans.

Japan, Travel

Japan Trip: All Over Tokyo

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We are really getting to the end here. We have just a few more days in Tokyo, and then we go home…to see the cats who no doubt miss us very much. Okay, since I’m blogging after the fact, yes, the cats missed us, but they also seemed totally okay. One ottoman was completely covered in cat hair.

So…(going back in time music) it was another beautiful day in Tokyo. Well, sort of beautiful, in that it was a bit rainy. We decided to skip our hotel breakfast and try something else more tasty and with better coffee. No offense, hotel 🙂

We went to February Cafe which was around the corner, and was very nice.

Yogurt with granola and bananas

Cheese toast, and avocado toast of sorts. Plus a beautiful cappucino for me.

And then we headed off on foot, with our destination being Ueno Park, but planning to stop along the way at things we wanted. Our first stop was “kitchen-town”.

There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of shops dedicated to various kitchen supplies. So many gadgets, utensils, pots, pans and more! We poked around for some time.

We also found a lovely shrine.

There was a large pedestrian bridge to get around between all the streets and stations and such. Ueno is a very busy area, not just the park. There’s a lot of hotels, restaurants, shops and other stuff, as well as several museums and a zoo. There is a huge station where many long distance trains come in (not as big or busy as Shinjuku, which is the busiest train station in the world!)

Then we got towards Ueno Park. It’s a huge park, and we found a pond, but the pond was covered in lily pads. It was really cool.

So many lily pads!

The zoo wasn’t open, plus people say that we westerners wouldn’t like it because the animals aren’t treated as well as we expect. I don’t know. I do know that up until recently there were pandas there and they don’t have them anymore, they had to give them back to China. But I did find a panda ride outside the park so that was pretty good.

Next it was time to find lunch! We found a place on, you guessed it, Tablelog that was nice and enjoyable. It was called Yushimasuisan and was near Ueno Park. They had a “set menu” for lunch so we each ordered one of those.

After lunch we decided to walk south.

We found a place that sold custom keyboards for your computer.

And then we got into the Akihabara neighborhood, which is known for games and anime stuff.

This pencil will excite not only children, but also their mothers!

Harrison Ford selling whiskey.

We did a lot of shopping and bought a few things for gifts and souvenirs. We also just enjoyed a lot of window shopping and people watching!

We finally headed back to the hotel for a bit to get off our feet and relax a bit before heading to dinner.

For dinner, we decided to head to a nearby street called Hoppy Street. It is a street lined with izakayas which serve food and drinks, including one called “hoppy” which is a cheap beverage similar to beer. Often it is mixed with shoju, the internet tells me.

We picked a few places to try, and had some hits and misses, but had fun. We sat outside under tents, and had to work to avoid sitting near people smoking! So funny to have to worry about that in Japan. We ordered a variety of things, vegetables, various fried fishes and chicken, some noodle dishes. We did notice at one place that the English and Japanese menus weren’t exactly the same–some dishes had been left off!

Louie with a bottle of Hoppy.

Tofu.

Eggplant-

Each place seemed to have a minimum of what you needed to spend, and you couldn’t just order a drink or just order food.

After dinner, we decided to walk over to Sensoji Temple again and see it in the dark. It was MUCH more quiet and magical at night.

And we ended the night up on the roof of our hotel with the foot bath and some sake. They have a machine up there with 4-6 (maybe?!) kinds of sake and you can help yourself. We slept well after a long day!

The next day was our last full day in Tokyo and in Japan. We were going to meet Louie’s stepmom for lunch: she was from Tokyo originally and was visiting for awhile, and had just gotten there a few days prior.

Louie had bought this eye mask and I had to try it on. No time like the present.

Hotel breakfast.

We headed towards the area where we were meeting for lunch then, because there were some other things to do.

We had a coffee upon arrival, and we ordered it “Viennese style” which we learned means with a scoop of ice cream.

The Toranoman area was very different than Asakusa and other areas of the city we had seen. Cleaner, more big buildings, more modern.

Oh, look, a little white work truck!

There was a shrine on top of the hill.

We visited the NHK Museum of Broadcasting.

We learned about the history of broadcasting in Japan. It was quiet interesting.

And then we met Kiyoko for lunch. We took an elevator down from the top of the hill, which we didn’t know about at first, ha!

We went to Bakery and Grill Sawamura Toranomon which was a nice restaurant. It was our first really not Japanese restaurant, which was kind of funny.

There was a bread basket instead of rice! And dessert.

Then we walked around for awhile with Kiyoko and she showed us the neighborhood.

After a few hours, we said our goodbyes. Our next stop was Jimbocho Book-town, a neighborhood with lots and lots of bookstore, of course mostly Japanese but also supposedly any language you would want.

After books, it was time for music. We wanted to visit some Jazz Kissas, or listening rooms. We also visited some places Louie’s dad recommended that played classical and tango music. The idea is that you sit and listen and you can order food and drink (or maybe even are required to hit a minimum order.)

We went to Cafe Ataraxia and enjoyed classical music with coffee and cake.

And we found a cat bookstore, all cat books. I should have bought more. My one regret.

We really wanted to get to Jazz Big Boy, which was one of the Jazz Kissas we had read about. It didn’t disappoint! It was really fun to sit and listen to music over an old record player.

Next we went to the Tango listening room. Viennese tea and a few snacks.

Then to a place called Jazz Coffee Incus, which was in a nondescript building and you had to take an elevator to the third floor. It felt like it was a studio apartment somebody turned into a jazz listening room.

The cheesecake was really good! And I think we were just on lemon sodas at that point, figuring any more caffeine was a bad idea, but not wanting more alcohol either.

After that, we thought maybe it was enough. We thought about what sort of food we hadn’t eaten yet, and realized dumplings were on the list. Are they Chinese really, probably, but they were all over, so we found a nearby and of course, highly rated place called Jinbocho Gyoza and Soup Dumpling.

There we did have to order a drink as well. Like, we had to, it was required. You couldn’t just order food.

We tried a variety and enjoyed them all!

After dinner, it was time to head back to the hotel. We ended the night as usual, up on the roof soaking our feet.

You can see the Tokyo Tower from the roof.

Last day: We woke up and wanted to do some more sightseeing before the flight. We didn’t need to be at the airport until around 3:30 pm, so we packed up and stored our bags so we could go out sightseeing again.

We had a delicious breakfast not far from the hotel at a restaurant called Blucca.

We poked around Asakusa for a bit and then decided to take the train to Ginza to explore there a little bit more.

We ended up back at Uniqlo as well as some other things.

Coffee and a snack at their cafe.

Not exactly Louie, but close.

A little white truck on a complicated intersection.

Finally, we headed back to the hotel to get our bags and take the train to the airport. We got through check-in and security and then had one last meal before boarding:

Honestly, this was probably the best airport food I’d ever had! Soba noodles with tempura.

I have to confess, I have no notes from after that. I think our flight was fairly uneventful and went mostly as planned. We connected in Detroit, and then got into St Louis in the evening. We got a ride home and went to sleep pretty soon after.

I have had a lot of time to think about this trip, and the thing I really took away was that 1) Japan was really amazing to visit and 2) the FOOD was sooooooooo good. People asked what was my favorite part and that was it. The food! But also, the people were overall so friendly and helpful, I loved learning about the history, using public transportation, doing a ton of walking, and let’s not forget, the onsens. It was really an amazing trip. I loved the itinerary, I loved what we did, and it was just really fantastic. Thanks for reading!

thoughts about violin, teaching, running, life.