Jaeger got in around 11pm last night and we had no specific plans for today so spent a leisurely morning waking up. Eventually, we made it out of the hotel and found a great bakery near one of the MTR stops for 2nd breakfast. We ate it in Victoria Park while Calvin watched model boats meandering around the little pond.
After that, we walked several blocks to hear the Noonday Gun which, predictably, fires at noon every day. Apparently exactly why it fires at noon is somewhat debatable. We almost got there a bit late having had trouble crossing the busy road. Google implied there should be a way across but it wasn’t obvious. We did make it there on time and only, as we were leaving, realized the route meant going under the road, not over. If we’d come from the other direction it would have been obvious but the secret doorway was too easy to miss coming from Victoria Park.
After that, we went for lunch. Yes, we’d recently had second breakfast but when planning the day it wasn’t obvious they’d be so close together. I thought it was prudent to go ahead and eat at a place we’d already vetted than hope for the best later on in a new location. Lunch was good and Calvin managed to keep his mess to a reasonable minimum, which was good because we had real tablecloths.
The plan after lunch was to take a ride on the Star Ferry but Calvin announced himself to be tired of ferries. I’m afraid we’re using alternate transportation enough these days that he’s starting to get rather jaded. So far, we’ve gone through trains, planes, and ferries. He still seems to have some enthusiasm for the tram, probably because I think it’s inefficient and have been avoiding it.
Since Calvin wasn’t interested in the ferry we moved to our next item which was visiting the Dr. Sun Yat Sen museum. No doubt Jaeger will talk in length about him so go read his entry once he’s written it. It isn’t a particularly child-friendly museum but they did have an amusing animated cartoon for kids summarizing his life as well as some coloring pages. Calvin was entranced by the cartoon though the audio alternated between Cantonese and Mandarin so I’m not sure how much he got from it. There were English subtitles but Calvin always gets upset when I try to read subtitles to him so I’ve stopped doing so.
We had some unscheduled time after the museum so went to the playground in the zoological gardens which was fairly close to the museum. There were a lot of kids and at first Calvin just hung out around the edges but eventually started getting involved.
For supper, we went to Starbucks and had drinks and a pastry each. Jaeger has introduced me to the “short” hot chocolate size which is perfect because I think it’s an actual 8 oz rather than the over-sized cup you get otherwise. It doesn’t appear on the menu but if you order it, they provide (though always appear a bit confused when they learn it’s not for a child).
For our return trip Jaeger suggested we take the street tram back. As previously mentioned, I’m not a fan of it so I suggested he and Calvin take it back while I take MTR. Jaeger agreed and I took the opportunity of stopping by the bakery we found that morning to pick up more items for tomorrow. In spite of my detour, I still beat Jaeger and Calvin back by a significant margin.
Calvin must be getting acclimated to this time zone. He voluntarily climbed into his bed but is still singing to himself and occasionally asking us to do things for him.
Our Hong Kong/Taiwan Trip: