Our day began at 6:30 am with a shower, then off to breakfast. Our hotel, the Anise, provided a delicious breakfast in their dining room that included fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh pastries, and a chef who would fix you an omelette made to order.
After breakfast, we boarded our small bus to do some sight-seeing. Our first stop was the mausoleum of Ho Chi Mihn. Lots of visitors, some westerners like us, but mostly Vietnamese and lots of school children in their school uniforms. We waited in a long line, and eventually made our way in. Guards in white uniforms everywhere... There to enforce quiet respect for "Uncle Ho". We silently viewed the body then toured the rest of the grounds.
After the mausoleum, we toured the government grounds surrounding the building, including the modest house that Ho Chi Mihn lived in until he died in 1969.
We left Uncle Ho's house and traveled to the Confucious temple and college. Here we toured the five-courtyard grounds, and listened to a five girl band playing traditional Vietnamese instruments. (I got a couple CD's if you want to hear they're music).
We left the temple and drove to the Hoa Lo Prison, better known as the "Hanoi Hilton". The prison was built by the French in the late 1800's to house and interrogate Vietnamese political prisoners. Over the years, thousands were tortured and killed here, most by means of a guillotine that still stands inside the museum. Most of the museum has been demolished to make way for new housing projects, but part has been left intact and made into a museum. We toured some of the cells and the guillotine room.
We left the Hanoi Hilton and traveled into congested downtown Hanoi, passing many government buildings and foreign country embassy's along the way. Eventually we stopped and got off our bus to walk the streets of downtown Hanoi for a while. We found a KFC for lunch, and window shopped for a couple hours.
We are relaxing now before supper, then we are off to a puppet show at a theater downtown. More later...
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