Today, M and I visited the History Museum in Hanoi. We have been wanting to do that for a long time but as usual, kept procrastinating.. after all, we will be in Hanoi for a while right? What's the rush? Eventually, we decided that today was D-day and told ourselves "no more changes". :p
Unlike most other museums that I have been to, the History Museum has a very "open" feel. The building is designed to make full use of natural light, by having lots of doors and windows, and gives it a bright and cheerful feeling. The museum has 2 floors: the first floor focused on the Prehistoric Times, as Ly and Tran Dynasties (there was quite a lot of emphasis on the great wars that happened in each dynasty), while the second floor contained exhibits on the French colonization as well as Vietnam Modernisation. Luckily, most of the displays had English explanations so I was able to understand 60% of what was going on. But I was vaguely disappointed that the second floor was closed for repair! Argh! I had wanted to find out more about the French influence in Vietnam... :(
Took quite a lot of pictures from the outside of the museum. Strangely, we were allowed to take pictures of the artefacts displayed for a nominal fee (VND 15,000 or SGD 1.50) but I thought it would be sufficient to just enjoy the exhibits.
This is the entrance of the museum. It used to be the French government office, so has a little colonial feel.
This picture was taken at the small museum garden, where you can see the side view of the building. Fairly impressive architecture... in Hanoi...
Evidence of the Chinese influence on Vietnam, then known as "吴越".
Cozy Lunch
After our museum walk, we went to an italian restaurant called "Il Grill" (highly recommended by M's colleagues) for lunch. It's located along Ba Trieu Street, two streets away from Lenin Park.
The restaurant is fairly small, with two levels. Feeling adventurous, we went up to the second floor and... ta dah! We found ourselves in a small attic!
The decor is quite pretty right? I would want to decorate my dining table in this manner too...
Of course, my attention quickly returned to the menu... I was quite torn between the "Salmon Fettuccine" and "Seafood Spaghetti" but eventally decided on the latter because I prefered white wine sauce. We also ordered a Tuna Salad for our appetiser. As I was busy taking pictures, M kept laughing because he found me really strange! Well, no harm right to take more pictures for my blog? I could even write a review on the restaurant with the pictures and send to Pathfinder who might (ok, low chance lah) just publish it on their website! Or I could start a makansutra in Hanoi since I love food so much... *thinking cap on*
Anyway, more pictures to whet your appetite...
The little cubes on the right are seasoned mashed potatoes and not cheese cubes as I originally thought. Quite yummy! But I took a picture because I thought they looked cute. :p
Our tuna salad which turned out to be BIG!
And my main course: Seafood Spaghetti. The picture doesn't look that good but it definitely tastes great! The fish, squids, prawns, crab meat, clams, scallops and mussels were well cooked, soft and tender, fully infused with the white wine flavour. The spaghetti had a chewy yet "munchable" texture. It was definitely a satisfying meal.. and the bill came up to around SGD 32 for two persons! Not too bad right?
I had no room for dessert after my main course, so we had to give it a miss. :( After lunch, we went to Hang Da Street to get some dried fruits (called "omai" which I CANNOT stop EATING) before heading to Dong Xuan Market to get a belt for M. This is quite a famous wholesale market in Hanoi and fairly interesting to explore, minus the jostling crowd. We went off quickly after making our purchase as it was getting quite warm and headed home. Though my meal has been half-digested, I think this definitely a good and delicious start for the weekend!
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