Yesterday we took a 2 1/2 hour flight from Saigon (south) to Hanoi (north). Of course Hudson can tell you the Airline (Vietnamese Airlines), the type of plane (Airbus 320) and the seating configuration (3, 3), but for Ha, it was her very first airplane ride. She did great - and didn't mind not having the window seat. We landed in Hanoi, exhausted, and took a shuttle bus from the airport to a 5 star hotel - the Sommerset. It is a huge, Western, tower-like hotel, with what are actually executive apartments. The 3 swimming pools were great, as was the kids play room. They didn't have a 2 bedroom apartment, so we took a 3 bedroom, with the understanding that they'd move us the next day to a smaller apartment. Well, the next day there were still no 2 bedrooms. This gave us the perfect excuse for leaving - The Sommerset just wasn't our cup of tea. We ended up at the Lucky 2, a small, homey hotel in the heart of the old quarter. We have a large, clean room with a 4th floor terrace that overlooks the rooftops of the neighboring buildings. Down below is the hustle and bustle of the streets, filled with narrow, alley soup kitchens and bakeries, shops for household items, toys, and clothes, and tourist trinkets. Ladies walk by carrying baskets suspended from a pole that rests on their shoulders. The baskets are filled with huge loads of bananas and other fruit, chicken and home made treats. The Ginocchios are so much happier, in our homey 2 star hotel.
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