We were up reasonably early for the Quoc Hoa hotel breakfast, and W was pumped that they had Chinese style congee. The breakfast was passable, and was included in our room rate, so you might as well eat up. We then took the walking tour of Hanoi Recommended by the Lonely Planet Vietnam. The streets are organized by what was originally sold on them, so blocks are often consecutive stores of shoes
, or metalwork or purses or hand crafts. The streets are mostly narrow 2 lane roads that have "sidewalks", but there were usually so many motor scooters parked on them that walking on the sidewalk proved impossible. Most of the stuff you just wander by and look at, our first major stop was the Nhà Thò Chinh Toa, a really beautiful little cathedral in the middle of town. We made a long stop at the hilltop coffee, for a snack, a shot of caffeine, and some easy wifi access. We saw someone else order a fresh coconut that looked fantastic, so we tried one too. It was, in fact, just as delicious as it looked, a whole coconut cut open served with a straw and a spoon. Since we were close by, we detoured to the Hanoi Hilton, which was really a weird experience. You start in what's 
billed as the colonial French section where the French held dissenters and political prisoners and treated them horribly. Then you go into a vietnam war section where the righteous Vietnamese allegedly treated all american prisoners even-handedly and with dignity. Pictures of prisoners playing sports and enjoying themselves are displayed so you know just how well they were treated. Needless to say I didn't buy much of that narrative. But the fact that we faught a war against the vietnamese people with B52s and Agent orange and Napalm doesn't exactly make us real innocent in this either, it does, it turns out, take two to tango. Our side trip there got us really close to the office of our travel agent, so we decided to drop by and settle up with them so we could get on with the rest of our vacation. We learned at that point that street numbering in Vietnam can be really strange, as one side can count up really quickly, but the other side can drag well behind, so you could be in the 400 block on the even side but only in the 100 block on t
he odd side. Eventually a concierge at a hotel in the neighborhood was nice enough to walk with us until we found it, and after we paid we decided to go back to that hotel for lunch. We were rewarded with a fantastic view from the top floor restaurant of the flower hotel. It turned out to be a nice little find, where we had nice views of the city and some good food. We strolled around Hanoi for a while longer, eventually ending up near the lake. While there we bought a bootleg Vietnamese phrasebook for an intensely low price, met a nice Vietnamese couple, snapped some pictures. and continued our slow shopping journey around the city. We made a mid shift stop at the Gecko Bar and Restaurant ( the one on Luong Ngoc, since there are several places called gecko all over Vietnam), for a cheap beer. and a snack, along with gathering some more tourist information there. We liked the guy in charge, and on a future trip would consider their guiding services. We made a brief visit back to our hotel to freshen up before dinner out at the Com Ga Hoi an. (Hoi an Style Chicken Rice). They had a really great upstairs outdoor terrace that we ate on and really enjoyed the cooler night air and the relative peace of a night a few feet above the din of the streets of Hanoi. We retired a little early since we had to be up at a stupid early time in the morning the next day.
, or metalwork or purses or hand crafts. The streets are mostly narrow 2 lane roads that have "sidewalks", but there were usually so many motor scooters parked on them that walking on the sidewalk proved impossible. Most of the stuff you just wander by and look at, our first major stop was the Nhà Thò Chinh Toa, a really beautiful little cathedral in the middle of town. We made a long stop at the hilltop coffee, for a snack, a shot of caffeine, and some easy wifi access. We saw someone else order a fresh coconut that looked fantastic, so we tried one too. It was, in fact, just as delicious as it looked, a whole coconut cut open served with a straw and a spoon. Since we were close by, we detoured to the Hanoi Hilton, which was really a weird experience. You start in what's 
billed as the colonial French section where the French held dissenters and political prisoners and treated them horribly. Then you go into a vietnam war section where the righteous Vietnamese allegedly treated all american prisoners even-handedly and with dignity. Pictures of prisoners playing sports and enjoying themselves are displayed so you know just how well they were treated. Needless to say I didn't buy much of that narrative. But the fact that we faught a war against the vietnamese people with B52s and Agent orange and Napalm doesn't exactly make us real innocent in this either, it does, it turns out, take two to tango. Our side trip there got us really close to the office of our travel agent, so we decided to drop by and settle up with them so we could get on with the rest of our vacation. We learned at that point that street numbering in Vietnam can be really strange, as one side can count up really quickly, but the other side can drag well behind, so you could be in the 400 block on the even side but only in the 100 block on t
he odd side. Eventually a concierge at a hotel in the neighborhood was nice enough to walk with us until we found it, and after we paid we decided to go back to that hotel for lunch. We were rewarded with a fantastic view from the top floor restaurant of the flower hotel. It turned out to be a nice little find, where we had nice views of the city and some good food. We strolled around Hanoi for a while longer, eventually ending up near the lake. While there we bought a bootleg Vietnamese phrasebook for an intensely low price, met a nice Vietnamese couple, snapped some pictures. and continued our slow shopping journey around the city. We made a mid shift stop at the Gecko Bar and Restaurant ( the one on Luong Ngoc, since there are several places called gecko all over Vietnam), for a cheap beer. and a snack, along with gathering some more tourist information there. We liked the guy in charge, and on a future trip would consider their guiding services. We made a brief visit back to our hotel to freshen up before dinner out at the Com Ga Hoi an. (Hoi an Style Chicken Rice). They had a really great upstairs outdoor terrace that we ate on and really enjoyed the cooler night air and the relative peace of a night a few feet above the din of the streets of Hanoi. We retired a little early since we had to be up at a stupid early time in the morning the next day.
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