Days 1-3: Travel and Hanoi

Days 1-2: Travel

We had an early flight to SFO, then killed about 4 hours in a lounge, before boarding our flight to NRT. I'm glad we splurged on premium economy! The flight was comfortable except the person in the row in front of us had cabbage farts the entire flight!

Our last flight from NRT to HAN was brutal, even with extra legroom seats. It was cramped and we were tired. We landed a little after 10 pm and quickly cleared immigration and customs. We arrived at our hotel just before midnight.

Day 3: Hanoi

After a nice breakfast at the Tirant Hotel in Hanoi

we decided to see city highlights using the Hanoi Hop On Hop Off bus.

The first place we hopped off was at stop 5  - Quan Thanh Temple.

After visiting the temple, we stopped at a cafe for a coconut coffee, egg coffee, and fresh coconut.

We preferred the coconut coffee over the egg coffee.

After getting back on the bus, we hopped off at Stop 8, the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long.

This stop also gave us access to the flag tower of Hanoi (stop 3). 

We stopped at another cafe for an iced coffee and cold water before getting back on the bus.

We then hopped off at stop 10, the Hoa Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton).

At this point, we were hot and tired, so returned to our starting point next to Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

After a shower and nap, we each got a 1-hr foot and leg massage at Lua Spa, which was across the street from our hotel 

Then we walked to beer street and had a beer (my strawberry beer was tasty) then found a restaurant for dinner.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, showered, and were asleep by 8 pm. I blame jet lag, and not being old!