Kai and I decided to go to the gardens next to the Imperial Palace after school. Even though rain threatened, we ventured on and were able to make it to the ice cream kiosk seconds before they closed.
At one of the larger malls in the area, they have a kids play area on the 3rd floor called US Island. It is certainly a paradise for Kai — there is a giant indoor jungle gym and ball pit, and lots of classic games which are free to play. Even pop pop would have enjoyed the classic air hockey which Kai played like a regular.
It turns out that there are a lot of bakeries in Kanazawa. A lot of really good bakeries. Will do our best to search out the sublime, but there are the constraints of time and the physical toll of intense morning carbs (but hey, I’m on holidays right). Today was Donq, where I had a curry bun with soft boiled egg inside (how they got it perfectly done inside a doughnut shell, I’ll never be able to fathom). Kai is growing up fast. He picked both his targets (a cheese flatbread and a sweet bean doughnut) and knocked them down without much help from papa, even though I was begging for some of that tasty looking doughnut.
At the James Turrell installation at the 21st Century Museum of Art in Kanazawa
After 26 hours of travel, I finally made it to Kanazawa. It was great to see everyone, and it’s like we didn’t miss a beat. Of course most of the first 16 hours have been about food 
Some of the best sushi of my life was here.
The brief stop in Philadelphia was quite short, so mom and I arranged to have day in the city together. I was also restaurant week, so a good opportunity to try new places. We ended up choosing Le Cirque — beautiful place, fantastic service, but the food was not mindblowing (although the creme brulee was one of the lightest I have had). Afterwards we went up to the Guggenheim. A great exhibition on James Turrell who explores the art of light and perception. Definitely worth going. A quick bit of shopping, and we had mom to the train right on time to make it home to prepare dad’s dinner. A great day.
