Hanoi - Day 1 - continued.

As we continued our half day tour (we saw SO much that first day), we went into the center of the city and saw lots of pagodas and many other parks.

Here is one of the pagodas that I liked best. It was tall, narrow and each window houses a Buddha.

The girls in front of a tree that started as a branch from India

I liked this view because you have the old pagoda in the foreground and the modern building in the background. Southeast Asia is a huge clash of modern and old.

One place we went was a celebration of Confucius. It was a place for learning and study (historically). Lovely grounds.

After a visit to many temples and places of history. We did stop for a visit (per our request) at the Hoa Lo Prison (otherwise known as The Hanoi Hilton). What surprised me was that the prison was built right in the center of the city (not sure what I was expecting really).

The front of the prison.

The below photo is of how the prison looked when it was all intact. They have now taken most of the building down and built up large apartment buildings all around the historical part of the prison site.

They had a number of the cells still intact. Alessandra enjoyed looking inside.

The one thing that made it most "real" was the models that they had inside the prison. They had it set up like it was historically. It was the one thing on the entire trip that really profoundly hit Olivia (to the point that she wouldn't go back in).

The end of the day. A Bia Ha Noi (each province has their own beer) and some Pho. Happy Brad.

And here is a corner in Hanoi. The traffic there was unlike any I have ever seen. We took this on an evening stroll. It wasn't as busy as we saw it get, but it gives you some idea.