Thursday, September 20th

Today we had a nice day of shopping in the old quarter of Hanoi. We started at the Hanoi Cathedral which is a BEAUTIFUL old stone cathedral that hosts services only open to foreigners (people with passports from places OUTSIDE of Vietnam). Kind of interesting. We shopped all up and down several streets and alleyways. There were several amazing stores-- lots of neat handmade goods at INCREDIBLE prices. We filled up the stroller and had our arms full by the time we headed back after lunch. We walked quite a bit and headed into parts of Hanoi that became quite 'authentic'- people not used to seeing American tourists especially not those with Vietnamese babies. Everyone was friendly but it was clear that we were the attraction-- not the other way around with us visiting the tourist attraction. Interesting. Lots of people like to come up to Iyla and make faces at her or grab her arm because the Vietnamese LOVE babies-- men, women, and children alike all just adore these wee ones! They also like to ask us in some combination of English and Vietnamese if she is from Vietnam and how old she is. They also like to know if she came from Hanoi. The Vietnamese are NOT shy about asking us personal questions too-- especially how old we are and where we are from.
After shopping and lunch at Mama Rosa's (more Italian) we went back to the hotel with the plan to meet Leslie and Bob for a shopping trip. Turns out we ended up going to the quilt store ourselves as they had not eaten yet. The quilt store is a really neat place filled with wares (quilted) by Vietnamese women. Each quilt is handmade and takes about 3 weeks to make. It is part of a project that was developed in the hopes that women would be able to do a handicraft and stay in their village of origin with their families. It provides these women with income and they provide the two stores- one in Hanoi and one in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) with some BEAUTIFUL quilts. We are now the proud owner of two of the quilts. Soon they will be available for purchase online too.
Next, it was back to our hotel for some rest and then we met a few families in the lobby for dinner. After dinner it was BEDTIME!! For EVERYONE!
Pictures later-- we have to run-- we are going to Ho Chi Minh Mauseleum!