Sicily and Catanzaro

Sicily

Palermo

We have thought about visiting Sicily for a while but it hadn't worked out until this spring break. Due to limited flights from Dublin, we first went to Palermo for 1.5 days. We landed (very) late on Saturday night and after finding some take away pizza and a couple groceries, we got to bed pretty late. But, the streets were still very active in our area! Everyone was out walking around and restaurants were still serving food, drinks, and desserts. We believe it had something to do with the night before Easter. On Sunday we weren't quite sure how much would be open. But, many restaurants and cafes were open. No retail or big markets were open, but most mini marts were open. I started off with a walk out to the water, walking by the yacht club. It wasn't that great a view due to the docks and breakwater. On my way back I stopped (ie was convinced) to stop for some street food. The Vucciria market was inviting and lively and had tables out for eating the street food. I had an aperol spritz and arancini. I got back to the apartment and people were about ready to head out for a walk, using Rick Steves walking tour. We started at the San Domenico church and piazza. Scaffolding was blocking any view of the church. We headed next to Vucciria market where I had just been. We did some street shopping and tried a strawberry spritz (not as good). We made it to Via Vittorio Emanuele, a big pedestrian street. We ventured off tour and started walking toward the water. We came across Cagliostro bakery and gelato. We stopped in for dessert first and a Illy espresso. They had "Illy decaf" cups that were cool and offered to buy one but they said no. We continued toward the water and there was a small market at Garibaldi gardens. I decided I would walk out to the water to see if there was a view. There was a small childrens park that was closed but next to it was a little restaurant with a walkway to the water. There was a bit of a view so everyone joined me there. We sat for a bit and skipped some stones. We went back on Vittorio Emanuele street to find some lunch. We ended up at Cagliostro restaurant. We had good food and service here. I liked the mortadella and pistachio with cheese pizza.

After lunch we picked our tour back up and walked by Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi. Not much to see but the piazza was used by a focaccia restaurant. Next we walked by the modern art gallery which had a courtyard we could go in and see. Next door was the Church of Sant'Anna la Misericordia. It was closed but we sat at the piazza for a couple minutes. Then we walked to Bellini piazza, which has a theatre and 3 churches. The church of Monastero di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria, Church of Saint Cataldo, and Church of Saint Mary 'dell'Ammiraglio'. We just walked around the outside of these. We then walked up to the four corners intersection. Each facade here is unique with statues and there is usually some music being played, drink carts, and lots of people. We did some window shopping and strolling around the area. We also found some just mediocre gelato from a place that has probably purchased their google ratings. After a bit of a rest at the apartment we started a search for dinner. Kacey found Maccio Restaurant Osteria Alcolica. This place was hard to get a seat but ended up with tasty lasagna and really good carbonara. After dinner we grabbed a couple cannoli from Pastari foods. We walked by the lit-up Massimo theatre on the way back after dinner. Via Maqueda was again busy with lots of people and vendors.

The next morning we got packed up and checked out and dropped our bags for storage while we walked around. We first stopped at Cappadonia Gelati, where they make a Sicilian traditional brioche con gelato. It was a pleasant change and I liked it. We continued walking toward the cathedral. We walked around the outside gardens and took in the views. There was several different tour and walk options available for purchase, and we saw people walking around on top of the cathedral. We walked a bit further toward the observatory and art museum but didn't go in. For lunch Kacey and I got focaccia sandwiches from Focacceria dei Mercanti. Other people ate some food from the Ancient Saint Francis Focaccia Shop, in the piazza of the church we had seen the previous day. I also got my first Amaro Averna, something called a Sicilian Mule. It was now time to head to the train station to catch our 3 hour train ride to Catania.

Catania

We arrived in Catania around 6:30 and we had a 15 minute walk to our apartment. We had a nice view of Mt Etna on the train ride in. We found La Locandolina right around the corner from our apartment. It was cozy and inviting and the food was good. There wasn't a lot open at this time but Don Peppinu gelato was open and busy. It was pretty good with interesting flavors.

The next morning we set out on a simple walking tour of Catania we found, with no big rush to the day, allowing for some easy-going enjoyment. We started at Piazza Vincenzo Bellini. Then on our walk west to Via Etna we stopped in Rematto Artigiano, a leather and wood-worker shop. Once at Via Etna we headed north toward Roman amphitheater ruins. We were starting to get views of Mt Etna along this street, which was nice. We then walked through a market hoping for some food vendors, but it was all clothing and stuff, and then a little bit of vegetables and fish. So we went back toward Via Etna looking for a place for lunch. After a bit of searching we found Trattoria Il Mare. This was really good with great stuff all around, especially my carbonara. After lunch we walked down to the cathedral and enjoyed the sunny day. We got some more gelato from Don Peppinu and also checked out the Fontana dell’Amenano (fountain). We then walked through the small Pacini garden while heading toward the caste. The Ursino Castle is closed but I walked around it. It has a massive moat that is now a pathway. After a little more shopping and buying of sweets we checked out the Greek - Roman theatre. We paid the entrance here and walked around inside a while. After a brief rest at the apartment, we went back to the restaurant from the night before. I got cavallo and it was really good.

The next day was our tour of Mt Etna. While the details of the trip were not super smooth on the day, we had great views and great weather. We rode a Unimog up part of the way (as the chair lifts were not yet operational for the year) and a snowcat up the rest of the way to a high peak. There was still a considerable amount of snow on top, but the peaks were all melted from the heat of the volcano. We even sat in the rocks a bit as it warms you up! The lunch they provided after was sit down at a restaurant, but it was nothing great. After many delays along the way, we got back to the apartment by 6 or so. Due to late lunch we weren't super hungry so we got some take-away pasta for kids that wanted food and we did some snacks and gelato too.

The next morning we caught our 9am train to LaMezia with great views of Mt Etna once more from the train. From Messina, the train is shunted on to a ferry and we traveled the straight on the boat! It was a neat experience. Once put back together, we had to wait a while at the station before completing our journey to LaMezia. We arrived by 1:30pm and grabbed our taxi straight away to head the 25 minutes to Catanzaro (the train connection would have been a mess, taxi was much quicker).

Catanzaro

We wanted to visit Catanzaro as Kacey's great grandfather was born there and migrated around 1903 to America. We wanted to just be in the town and maybe find some information at the state archives.

We arrived at our apartment near Catanzaro Old Town by 2:30. Even though we ate a little on the ferry, people wanted lunch. So I got some groceries while everyone else ate some late lunch. After that we walked the old town just a bit and got some soft serve gelato. It was different, but we were craving real gelato after that. We also tried a brasilena, which is an Italian coffee soda. Soon after we ended up by the southern viewpoint. It was a great view! We made our way back to the apartment to start thinking about dinner. I saw Vecchia Catanzaro early during our walk and between the look and the reviews I thought it would be a good choice. I got the Catanzaro dish morzello, which is a spicy soup mix of a lot of things. I finished the meal off with Vecchio Amaro del Capo, a Calabrian liqour sipped cold after a meal (and we got a shot glass too).

The next day we started walking toward the state archives but took a detour on the way to visit the US Catanzaro FC merchandise shop to get some gear for papaw! We ended up with something for everyone, it was a good visit. We then headed to the state archive building, not really knowing what to expect (other than that they were supposed to be open). We eventually found someone and asked about family records (translating in Italian, they spoke no english). They told us to follow then down to another building next door and they explained in Italian, to a room of 4 or so people, that we were looking for records. We gave them a name and a date and they proceeded to bring out a massive book. It had military records, which we didn't know he was in the military. This document had a lot of physical details. We also were able to have them get a book with details on his parents and grandparents! We took loads of notes and pictures of translations. It was an incredible experience. For fun after, they got out some 500 year old parchment for the kids to see, and we also saw the display cases with old city embossing stamps.

After the excitement of the morning, we started looking for lunch. We found L' Intervallo Pizzeria Rosticceria. We got a started of fried gnocchi which was tasty. Colin got a Italian looking burger that was good. The pizza was pretty good too. After lunch we wanted good gelato so we went to Gelateria Amedeo Centro. They were very inviting and the flavors were interesting. They also had frozen mini cones that were dipped in different toppings. Liana got the pistachio and liked it. We went to the apartment for a rest after. Kacey and her parents then taxied down to another region of town to explore a couple churches. Before dinner we walked to the Il Cavatore fountain and did some window shopping. We also stopped in Church of Saint John Baptist for a few minutes as it was open. On our way to look for dinner we also stopped by a church that may have been the baptismal church of Kacey's great-great grandpa Fransecso, Chiesa di Santa Maria de Plateis in Sant'Anna. For dinner we found Ristorante Trattoria Ceravolo and we enjoyed our time and food here. The next morning we had to check out before our taxi, but we were allowed to store our bags at the apartment. We went out for some lunch but struggled to find something open at 11:30 to eat. We ended up at Harri's Bar Di Chiricò Simona, which was a cafe where they warm up items made that morning, and they had enough seating to make it work. It was actually good and we were able to order a few different things.

Athens

For half term break, I took Liana and Colin to Athens for three days. I found a last minute deal at Athens Tower Hotel with an Acropolis view and breakfast with a view. Located at Monastiraki Square, it is convenient to many sites and transit. We got to our hotel around 8 and went immediately for dinner nearby. Bairaktaris is in a bit of a touristy area, but the staff are nice and the food is good. I remember eating take-away gyros here in 2019! I introduced the kids to tirokafteri (spicy whipped feta dip) and Liana was an immediate fan. We also got some kebabs and croquettes. During dinner, the kids spotted friends from school walking by! After dinner we spotted Venetis on the square and looked in. It was good and we ended up here every night for ice cream and pastries.

The next morning we slept in a bit as our first activity was cooking class at 11. I planned it for the first day as it was the only time with a chance of rain (and it apparently poured during class) and it would introduce some foods to the kids. There were 4 other people in the class and that was a good size. We made phyllo from scratch and formed our own pastries with our own fillings. While those were baking we each made our own main. The kids had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Dionysia at Eat With Your Greek Cousin did a great job. We stopped by the hotel for a small rest and then headed to the Panathenaic Stadium, the site of the original modern Olympic games. We did a small race, visited the museum, and sat and took in the scenery for a while. When leaving, we walked by the Temple of Olympian Zeus (mostly ruins, grounds were closed) and Hadrian's Arch. We stopped by Kayak for ice cream and a rest. We took the subway back to the hotel area and decided to walk the shops of Monastiraki.

The next day we started off by visiting the Acropolis. We walked up the north slope via Areopagus Hill and took in the sites from the hill, as I was planning on coming down the south slope when done. There was a line that would have been ok to wait but I just went online and bought an instant ticket. We started off viewing the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, which is still used for some concerts and performances. We then headed up and did a anti clockwise loop around the Parthenon. We went out for the views at the famous eastern viewpoint. We walked by a few ruined sites on the way down the south slope. After stopping to pet some cats, we went to the Acropolis Museum to use the restrooms, and decided to not visit the museum. We started walking back toward the hotel. Liana spotted a sweatshirt she liked. We found some random lunch spot and had an enjoyable lunch. After a rest at the hotel we took the subway half way to Mount Lycabettus. We walked up the steep hill to the funicular and rode that up (which has gotten pretty expensive, €13 round trip). We took in the views and peeked in the little church. We went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before meeting our friends for dinner at MS Rooftop, across the street from our hotel. The kids had fun sharing a meal in Athens and talking about the different things they had done.

Our final day we slept in a bit as we would be doing a decent amount of walking and had time to take things slow and enjoy the day. After some breakfast we first went to the Ancient Agora around 11. The main entrance was closed for remodel so we walked around the park and finally found the ticket booth. The line was starting to get long and I was able to buy instant tickets online (and the line was huge by time we left!) We first saw the Temple of Hephaestus with nice views of the acropolis and the entire agora from there. We saw our first tortoise on our walk down the hill toward the Stoa of Attalos. This building was reconstructed around 1950 and now houses a museum and offices. The entire day we were stopping and counting and naming cats, the kids had fun with it. We walked around the loop of the agora and read a little about what each area was used for 2500 years ago. We headed to Adrianou (street with several restaurants facing the ancient agora). We ordered several starters to try a few things we still had not been able to enjoy. After lunch the kids wanted to do the Illusion museum, not far from lunch. We spent a little over an hour checking out all the exhibits. After some ice cream we were going to check out the roman forum but it had closed at 3 for off-season hours. Most of it can be seen from the street, I was hoping to take them in the octagonal tower that was a weather station and clock (although it is just empty now). So we decided to take a walk and check out the national gardens more. We saw a few animals and birds and then found the playground. After playing for a while, our school friends showed up there! So the kids had lots more fun running around and playing. Around 5pm we all started heading back toward Monastiraki for dinner and rest. We were up early the next morning to get to the airport by 7am.

Dingle Peninsula

 We visited Dingle peninsula in June of 2013 and really enjoyed the area. We have been wanting to return and finally made it happen over St Brigid's weekend. We arrived first in to Inch Beach around 12:45. We had the sun peaking out and went out toward the water for a bit. On our short drive in to Dingle from there, we drove through a rainbow that seemed to start on the road just in front of us! We parked and found Paul Geaney's pub open and serving food. Quite a few places were not yet open for the year. After this we checked in to our apartment (and met the local cat Cocoa). We headed back in to town for a Murphy's ice cream and to charge the car. Next we drove out to Holden Leathergoods, just 10 minutes from town (with a view of town across the water). We went back to the apartment for a rest and walked in to town for dinner at Lord Bakers. 

The next day was our day to drive the Dingle Loop. We followed Rick Steve's guide once again. We started at Ventry Beach around 10:45. We had lovely sun on us all day. I don't think it tried to rain on us at all! We stopped at Fairy Ringfort but the gate was closed. And, there is really only earth mounds left, so it wasn't a big deal as we could see most of it from the road. Next was the Dunbeg Fort. This has a small cafe that was closed, but the ticket booth was manned so we walked down to the fort. It was a really beautiful view and remnants of the fort and the beehive are there to see. We then drove a few minutes to the first beehives. We walked through and explored them a bit. These few had no remaining tops, but were still impressive. Further down the road we stopped at Cashel Murphy. This is a collection of five beehives (without roofs) with an outer wall. Another couple minutes down the road was two more beehives, complete with roofs. At each stop we also take in a view of the sea, which is constantly changing.

Next we came to Slea Head, the westernmost point of Ireland. There is a cross along this road, and the road narrows to single lane (but is still 2-way traffic). We parked at the trail head for the Dunmore Head walk. While it looks quite high and steep, you can make it up in 15 minutes to the westernmost point of Ireland! There is an old WW2 lookout bunker at the top and a great view of the Blasket Islands. Next we needed to stop for lunch. Krugers Bar in Dun Chaoin is the most westerly pub in Europe! We got some food and even sat outside for a few minutes in the sunny weather. After lunch we drove down the road toward the Blasket Heritage Museum. We continued on another minute to the sea. Kacey and I sat and enjoyed the waves crashing on the rocks for a while. Next we drove on to Clogher Head. We didn't walk up to the head but we stayed down for views of the strand below. We also had a nice view here of the Three Sisters, mountains filmed as part of Star Wars.

Next we headed to Reask Monastic site. There isn't much to see here but it shows a larger area and how it would have been arranged, including grave stones. We moved on to Gallarus Oratory next. We still had beautiful sunny skies, but it was getting late in the day and we were starting to lose the sun. We recreated a picture of Kacey and Liana from 13 years ago. We moved on to Kilmalkedar Church next. The site dates to 600AD but the church was built around the 12th century. We decided to add a couple stops to our loop and drove up to Dooneen Pier on a whim. We had an awesome view of the setting sun and waves crashing on a small pier that we sat and enjoyed for a while. Finally we drove by Brandon Creek, next to Brandon Mountain. This was also just a small pier and the waves were crashing in to a small cave, causing explosive spray every 10-15 seconds. It was pretty cool! We drove back in to Dingle town for some Murphys ice cream (before dinner). I ended up taking the kids to Adams pub for dinner. Nothing special, but we had fun.

The next morning we checked out and walked around town for just a few more minutes. We found the creek that runs under buildings, which is a neat site to see. On our way back home, we took the road through Connors Pass. This provided amazing views of both sides of the peninsula, as well as Brandon Mountain.

Brussels

For our 2025 fall break, I took Colin and Liana (Nolan did not have a break) to Brussels. We stayed only 4 minutes walk from the Grand Place. The plan was to eat chocolate, waffles, and fries for two days (and beer for me). We got to the Craves Hotel around 7pm and walked to see the Grand Place lit up at night in purple. I found The Brothers Brasserie for dinner next to Grand Place. It was good, with fish chips, meatballs, Flemish stew, and the Karmeliet beer was good. We stopped at the Carrefour next to the hotel to grab a few things for breakfast.

The next morning we just walked around the city a bit and saw some sites. We got some frites (fries) with andalouse. Then we bought some chocolate to snack on. Then we spotted "The Goose" at the Grand Place. Then we visited Rose de Damas, a place we had visited years ago with delicious treats. We walked to Le Pre Sale for lunch on a recommendation. It felt very authentic. We ordered mussels, frog legs, and a salad. The frog legs were really good. After lunch we stopped at the hotel for a little relaxation. Then we headed out to stop in more sweet shops on our way to the Illusion Museum. The kids picked this place out and we had fun during our visit with a lot of silly pictures. After our visit we went for waffles at Gaufre de Bruxelles. After some more walking we got more frites at Frituur Tabora, which had over 50 sauces. We did some more shopping before dinner to buy some things for mom and get some souvenirs. For dinner we found some Belgian food at Le Coin de l'Ecailer; rabbit and snails. It was tasty. After dinner we walked around some more, found some mulled wine, and got more waffles.

The next morning we decided to visit Atomium. We enjoyed our visit walking around and doing a bit of reading. We booked an afternoon chocolate making class so we traveled nearby to find some lunch. We found Tonton Garby from reading reviews online. We were very lucky that the line was not very long (waited maybe 20 minutes). All the reviews online are correct, they even have signs up on the street that say if you are in a hurry, you should go elsewhere. The guy here hand makes each sandwich with either fruit or meat. He handcuts and slices everything for you. Goes through your options, makes suggestions, and has a nice chat with you the whole time. At the end, you end up with a delicious masterpiece. We even bought some of his amazing farmers cheese for a takeaway snack. The gentleman is Turkish and speaks eight or so languages. We had fun talking with him and eating our food. After lunch was chocolate making class! The kids enjoyed tasting and learning methods for molding. And eating some too! After the class we decided to walk and visit the Lego store. It wasn't that special, reminded me of Dublin (sorry). While walking back toward Grand Place we walked by a 2 story Flying Tiger, so of course Liana had to go in. Dinner we ended up at the Blue Restaurant. While Greek, it had many Belgian specialties. After dinner we had one last go of frites, and then some waffles, and then some hot chocolate.

The Burren, Aran Islands, and County Clare

Before school started back up, we visited an area we had seen once before, but got to see a few new sites. We headed to Doolin Cave first on Saturday morning. During our drive we set a booking for noon. Doolin Cave has the northern hemisphere's largest stalactite, weighing in at 10 tonnes and is 23 feet long. After a trek down and back up we drove in to Doolin for some lunch at Stonewall Pizzeria at Hotel Doolin. After lunch we left our car there and headed out on the cliff walk. It is partially closed near Cliffs of Moher but we went pretty far and after about 45 minutes stopped to wander around the tide pool area. After that, Kacey continued on toward Cliffs of Moher and I took the kids back to town. We stopped at Doolin Ice Cream for a bit of a treat. We went and checked in our apartment above Riverside Bistro. It was a nice big 4 bedroom apartment with kitchen and living room. We booked entry at Cliffs of Moher parking for 5pm and met Kacey there. The sun came out again for some really nice pictures. Colin and I went to go in O'Brien's Tower and the others went to walk the cliffs a bit. We got back to the apartment and the kids made some pasta while the parents went to Gus O'Connor's Pub for food and music.

The next day we had tickets for the ferry from Doolin to Inishmore, Aran Islands.  The ride is around 45 minutes and we had a nice day for it. We had views of the Plassey Shipwreck on Inish Oirr, which is the shipwreck viewed on the opening credits of Father Ted. Our plan was to rent e-bikes to explore the island. But unfortunately, Colin was not old enough for one. So he and I had to get a tag-along. So while everyone else e-biked around, he and I struggled climbing hills (these bikes are a bit awkward!). We worked hard and did it together. The first road we took was not a maintained road, but we explored the country side by ourselves while traveling to the Wormhole. This is a naturally occurring, perfectly rectangular, blowhole. It is also much larger in person than any picture shows. Kacey was able to get in for a few minutes. We had packed in lunches so we ate a bit on the rocks here. Next we biked to Dun Aonghasa Fort. You leave the bikes near the shops and facilities and walk the trail up. We had a beautiful day for walking and exploring. There are some sheer cliff edges with very little signage or railings. Next we biked west to the Seven Churches. This site is really only two churches and is famous due to its inclusion on pilgrimage in the Catholic church. We headed back to the port town and stopped for a couple views at Kilmurvey Beach. We took the northern (longer but easier) road back. We also stopped at the Seal Colony Viewpoint for some ice cream (and there was at least one seal in the water spotted). Colin and I pedaled hard to get back to town and ended up making good time. He and I hit Inishmore's Tigh Joe Mac's pub for drinks while the others came in later and did some shopping. We got back to Doolin around 5:15. We ordered some food from the bistro downstairs for the kids and then went to McDermott's for dinner and a bit of music.

The next day we packed up and were going to drive the long way out of Clare on our way home. We had a little rain this day, but not a lot. We stopped by the Burren Visitor Centre in Kilfenora. I got a little info about which roads to take to see some sites we wanted to see. We first went to a pilgrimage for me, Father Ted's house! It is privately owned but you can take pictures from the road. We tried to take a road across to Cahercommaun but it dead-ended, so we headed south around and got there easily. This was a nice hike to a ring fort ruins. This one is built on the side of a cliff. We then drove some nice winding roads to Cathair Chonaill ring fort ruins, but this is owned by someone and their visitor centre lost water pressure, so they closed the whole thing. Oh well. We drove a few minutes north to Poulnabrone Dolmen. This is a early neolithic portal tomb whose opening stones have remained in tact for over 5000 years.

Japan

For spring break, all 3 kids wanted to go to Japan. We didn't want a super busy schedule. We picked Tokyo, Kyoto (with a day trip to Osaka), and Nikko to visit. We flew British Air through Heathrow to Tokyo. I will publish this without cleaning up grammar as I just want to get my thoughts down.

 

Monday 14th 

Landed around 11. Got through immigration after a while. Trained to Shinagawa. Caught a bullet train to Kyoto, had help with shinkansen ticket machine. Kyoto station at 3, hotel by 4. Uber makes you go to a certain spot away from station. Went to grocery for breakfast items. Stopped at 7-Eleven. Walked to Kyogoku Kaneyo for unagi dinner.

Tuesday 15th

930am tea ceremony in Gion area. Wore kimonos. Walk to Yasaka shrine. Street food (apple pastry). Dodge a little rain. Had some meat and saki. Walk to ryozen temple didn't go in. More street food. Go in Kodaiji temple and bamboo forest. Took a break. Went to Kiyomizu-dera temple. Crowded on way up. Walked grounds some. Left around closing and shops were closing fast. Got some more street food and macha Carmel latte affogato. Got kids enough food. Went for Kobe beef, not great. Stopped at karaoke with Boilermaker Charles.

Wednesday 16th

Wanted to wake for Osaka but slept in. Went to shopping food market Nishiki Market. Taxi to bamboo forest and Tenryu-ji temple. Nice grounds walked around. More Arashiyama bamboo forest (just a single walking path).  Walked Okochi Sanso Garden. Ate ramen dinner at Ozuru. Train to Fushimi Inari Taisha temple for night walk.

Thursday 17th

Osaka bullet train. Pastries near station at Grenier in Osaka around 11. Taxi to Osaka castle. Big grounds. Go in go to top for views. Walk down and exhibits each floor. Dress like samurai. Pictures outside, then taxi to kitchen shopping street. Chris, N, L walk to Namba Yasaka Jinja temple and get a few snacks (Mogu Mogu ice cream & donut things, then McD chicken). Walk north to busy shopping area. Anime store. Train back to Kyoto almost miss it. Long wait for taxi to hotel.

Friday 18th

Out by 10. Taxi to station. Shinkansen to Utsunomiya (change in Tokyo) barely make connection platforms not labeled well (by train type). Wait 40min for Nikko line train. Apt by 4. Buy Nikko bus pass and walk around Shinkyo shrine. Empty as everything closes by 430. Walk to last place barely open for dinner at 715, Ramen Bonten. Good food. Saw groups after us going to Family Mart for dinner across the street after getting turned down here. Family Mart, 7-11, and Welcia for breakfast and snack food.

Saturday 19th

Out at 930 for bus to Nikko park. Made it up the mountain to Chuzenji Onsen town by 10:45. Ate milkshake, ice cream, and crepe snack. Walk to falls. Took elevator down. Ate at souvenir shop/noodle bar. Took bus to Ryuzu falls. Saw monkey, barely. Almost missed the cascades behind the building. Took bus to Yudaki falls. Did the loop walk to Kotaki Falls. Bus back to town. Took 2 smaller kids on swan boat on Lake Chūzenji. Nolan and Kacey headed down the mountain to hike some more falls. We ate next to the station at Azuma while they got a table at the busy/full Italian restaurant, Trattoria Gigli.

Sunday 20th

Got to the station around 10 to get the 10:25 train to a station in Tokyo. Dropped off bags around 12:30 at hotel. Taxi to Asakusa area for snacks and temple. Strawberry beer. More food on the grounds of the temple. Girls went to shop, boys went to Ueno Park. Went to gardens but it was a zoo. We had 60 min to speed walk parts and saw some good stuff. Left at 5 to walk back to hotel. Checked in to 8th floor double bedroom. Dinner place was good, tried a variety of random things at Sushi and Tempura Mogana (Okachimachi branch).

Monday 21st

7:30 pickup turned to 8:45 for Fuji tour. 2 hour drive, first stop, Chureito pagoda. Nice view but rushed. Next was 8 pools, Ishino Hakkai. Very busy area. Ate a couple snacks walked around a bit. Ice cream too. Next was Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shring and 1000 year old tree, Fuji Taro Cedar. Then speed boat on Lake Kawaguchi, great views. Then lunch as places were closing.  Then drive over to Oishi park. Beautiful flower pictures. Saw 80s Dodge Ram Van on drive home. Took L & C to a dumpling bar that was good, Osaka Ohsho Okachimachi (Ekimae branch).

Tuesday 22nd

Took Liana to Gōtokuji Temple (cat temple) early. Saw a Dennys!  Met others near the palace. Could not get in. Walked around to east gardens. Did a walking loop. Went to Tokyo station for lunch. Went to Akihabara area for anime stores. First Hokkaido ice cream. Colin went to pokemon store. Decided for Skytree at night. Dinner there first at food hall. Not great. Nice views at night. Combo ticket doesn't add much for higher level. Pictures outside at base before hotel for bed.

Wednesday 23th

Shibuya Sky morning for Liana! But unfortunately raining and it was closed. We could only do inside areas (we were only going for the outside areas). Found hedgehog cafe next door for Liana. Nolan went too. Colin went to Shibuya Pokemon store, very busy! Checked out Nintendo store next door too. Walked though scramble intersection but in the rain, its just a busy intersection. More anime store at Ikebukuro area. Found Truffle bakery, good pastries. Took L & C back to dumpling place. Picked up indian for Nolan, Kacey went to local small Japanese place.

Thursday flight at 8:50am from Haneda to Heathrow.

 

Got by without suica cards (there are different types, and need 1 per person), hindsight could have done it

Nikko, could have rented our own car in town and just drove, possibly cheaper and easy to get around.

I booked two private day tours of Mt Fuji that were cancellable until about 48 hours in advance. We checked the weather forecast 2 days out and kept the one on the better day. I should have also maybe done this for Shibuya Sky, as we missed it due to weather.

Google translate is great

Some ATMs are weird and not in english. Family Mart and 7-11 usually worked well. 

Give yourself time to get through train stations. Some platform areas are not numbered, you walk to certain types of train areas (which we didn't know the names). There is plenty to eat at the station, buy takeaway food to eat on the train.

Nearly all taxis are for 4 people. We used uber to get (what they call luxury) 5 seaters.  The Japanese TaxiGo app did not work with my google voice number.

Paris

We headed to Paris for a few days for the half term break in February. We visited when Nolan was 5 and Liana was almost 1, so we figured we would show Liana and Colin a few sites.

We flew in Saturday around lunch and took a taxi to our apartment. We stayed next to the Strasbourg - Saint Denis metro stop. This stop has 3 big metro lines so it made getting around very easy. We only pre-planned a couple things and had some other things to book in last minute. We walked around our apartment first and ate some crepes and pizza. I also bought a couple pastries for the morning. Then we headed to Champs Elysees and hit a few shops, including Laudree for a few macarons. We ate some Italian food and walked to Arc de Triomphe to view it at night.

The next day we had a 1:30 entry to the Orsay Museum (which we entered about 25 minutes early). We took the metro to Concord plaza and walked to the museum from there. We spent a good amount of time on the 5th floor looking at some art from Van Gogh and Monet. I then took the kids for a snack at the basement level cafe. We then spent some time wandering around the open air area of rooms, art, and sculptures. We left around 4:30 and took a taxi toward the Eiffel Tower to just walk around the park and base. We had tickets to go up our last day. There are only 2 places to enter through security now. We bought a couple snacks and walked around a while. We decided to find dinner in the area and afterward catch the 8pm light show. We struck out at a couple places but ended up back at Italian food. We walked toward Trocadero along the Seine and realized our view from the river walk was pretty good. So we stayed there and enjoyed the 8pm light show. We then tried to take the metro back to the apartment but our line was down for repair so we took an uber.

The next morning I once again tried for tickets to Notre Dame (it is hard now) and got some! So instead of waiting in a huge queue we showed up at 10:15 and walked right in. It was great to see how much work was done the past 5 years since the fire. We slowly walked the clockwise loop. We next walked north toward some food and shops. Liana found a beret and Nolan found a baguette to eat. Kacey hit a leather shop while I took the kids to the Lego Store. We enjoyed gazing at the custom Parisian structures that had been created. We then met Kacey for lunch at le Paris Halles. While this felt like a touristy area, we had good food. Next up was the Louvre. We walked 20 minutes and were also seeking some ice cream on the way. We only found Haagen Dazs which worked for the kids. I ate a crepe along the way.

We started by recreating a photo of Nolan from 2013 on the pillars in front of the pyramid. We also took photos of each kid. We had a 2:30 entry time and there was a very long queue for the 2:30 entry crowd, but it moved fairly fast. We were in and on our way (after checking coats and a bag) by 3pm. We walked toward Mona Lisa first to show the kids. Next we went toward the French crown jewels. We then started walking toward and through the Egyptian area. While the kids took a break and slowly walked through more Egyptian stuff, I ran over to view Napolean's apartment. We met back up (after figuring out how to get through due to closed hallways) and walked toward Venus de Milo. It was almost 5:30 at this point and the announcements started as the museum was closing for the day. We debated between uber and metro and since the queue to buy metro tickets was quite long, we just called an uber back to the apartment.

Tuesday was our day to visit Versailles Palace. We had never visited before. We arrived in the village a little early and bought some lunch sandwiches and snacks at a grocery store and ate them outside.  We had 12:30 entry time. The queue was quite long but once it started moving it didn't take too long. While the palace is huge, not all of it is open to the public. We walked through the open areas, many of which have no furniture, just art. By 2:30 we headed out for the gardens. The kids ran around a lot and we walked toward the canal by the shop for snacks and a restroom. By 3:45 we started making our way out back to the train station. We were back in the city by 5:30 and found a place to eat (Au Metro) where Colin tried escargot with me. It was good!

Wednesday morning we checked out and dropped our bags near the Eiffel Tower so we could all make our way up. Kacey and Liana only went to the restaurant level, but I took the boys to the top. We bought a couple snacks and Liana and Nolan did a special exhibit, walking across the expanse at the restaurant level called "Le Vertige de la Tour". There was a 40m long net bridge across the expanse, 60 meters high.

We found some food nearby for late lunch before taking our uber to the airport. Some simple pizza, hotdog, and sandwiches (and crepes) suited just fine. 

Orly airport is nice looking, but their people management and line process is terrible.