A walk in the old quarter

When you look at a map, things appear closer than they are. We decided to take a short walk this morning that took until mid afternoon. Thankfully, there were lots of things to see along the way and we managed to make it back to our hotel merely hot and tired, but otherwise no worse for wear.

Above is what we believe is the opera house, our only clue being a sign advertising a symphony coming soon.

Part of our quest was to find the highest ranked restaurant in Hanoi, according to TripAdvisor. Our map didn't have enough detail to name all the streets, so we had to use our people skills to find our way. The first person told us to go two streets that way and turn right. Once there, the next person told us to go the opposite direction. The third encouraged us to continue the direction we were going and then go right again. The last person told us to turn around, go up two streets and turn left. This last bit of advice worked and we found a hardware store to eat at.

The establishment serves Bành Mi - which is a Vietnamese style sub sandwich. 

With all the walking, we saw many quaint buildings and tourists.

We also saw a lot of street vendors trying to make a modest living. Not an easy life.

We had to stop and sit down in the shade a few times.