We Came for Norway but Stayed for the Party

 May 17, 2026

We got a good night's sleep, minus the wifi (that was like a strobe light blinking green all night long. i got up to unplug it but clearly i wasn't the first person to have this thought because plastered to it was a handwritten sign that said DO NOT UNPLUG), plus the earplugs. We took a 20 minute walk to the train (we were staying in the equivalent of a red light district so there was lots to see along our walk!) and had a much easier time navigating the station then we had the day before. We boarded and it was a quick 15 minute trip to the airport. We got through security relatively easily but our gate information wasn't yet available so we sat at Marche for breakfast. Once our gate info for Oslo, Norway was available we headed there, and were pleasantly surprised that there was no passport control.

Once we arrived in the Land of Trolls we had to embrace it by posing for a few pics at the airport!

 After our flight we took a train to the neighborhood we were staying in (we had a much easier time navigating this train system than the one in Zurich) and once we got off we had a 15 minute walk to our hotel. 

As we walked we saw SO MANY PEOPLE dressed up- women in traditional clothing and men in suits. At first we wondered if this was how people dressed on Sundays for church but then there were just too many people out and about for that to be the case. After some googling we realized it was Constitution Day in Norway and EVERYONE was celebrating. 

There were parades, choirs, and most importantly hot dogs and ice cream (so we were told). People were walking the streets drinking and after checking into our hotel we headed back out to enjoy it all. We were starving and after looking up multiple places that were closed for the holiday, we found one with a traditional menu to eat at. We had asparagus prepared 3 ways- because it's in season right now- in addition to veal, fish and berries. The meal was lovely and the cocktails were really impressive. I had one with dill and another with peach. Evan had a one with blackberry and a spicy margarita with raspberry salt. 

After eating and drinking we headed out to the square to join the crowds. We went to the main square where there were food vendors and beer tents and we just watched the groups of people go by. We wandered by the water and saw multiple DJs mixing under bridges where people were gathering to dance. 

The bars were packed with people and after walking the city for a few miles we stopped in a pub with great music and a lot of locals. Our goal was to make friends and eventually I did. I got many of our questions answered. 1) the girls are given the traditional dresses at age 15 for their confirmation. They are from the town their family is from and the beautiful pins along the neckline represent what the town is known for. One of the girls, from Bergen, had an ornate pin that she explained was an umbrella with raindrops because Bergen is the city of rain. One of the girls had a blue blouse under her dress and she explained hers was unique because she's from the very northern tip of Norway and grew up with reindeer in her backyard. 

They taught us to say thank you- takk, and cheersed us- skal- and even gave us a Norwegian flag to take with us.

The people we encountered said the party would last all night and they weren't wrong- long after we went to bed we heard people stumbling into the hotel. When we left at 6 the next morning we even saw someone arriving home after a long night. 

From Swiss Air to Swiss Cheese

 May 15-16, 2026

We left Chicago on Friday night and flew Swiss Air (which we would both highly recommend) to Zurich, Switzerland. It was an 8 hour flight. We got through pre- check fairly quickly so we killed an hour at Hub 51 in Terminal 5. I tried a new beer which was really delicious. After boarding we were delayed about an hour on the tarmac because the machine that puts the luggage in the belly of the plain broke down. Once we got in the air they served us chicken and polenta for dinner and then Evan and I slept. 

After landing at 1130am Saturday morning in Zurich, Evan and I waited in the customs line. The line took forever, but eventually we made it through and purchased Zurich Cards before attempting to navigate the Swiss public transportation system to our accommodation.

Attempting is the important word here.

We wandered here, there, and everywhere through the airport and train station. At one point we found a huge food court and, naturally, had to investigate the Swiss McDonald's menu. We weren't hungry enough to actually eat there, but we needed to know how it compared to America.

The verdict?

Way better.

They even had an entire line of gluten-free burgers. We moved on, but I was impressed.

Then we wandered through a grocery store and discovered something else that delighted us: ketchup and mayonnaise sold in what looked exactly like toothpaste tubes. 😂 I'm not sure who decided condiments needed to be stored like oral hygiene products, but I'm intrigued.

The train, tram and bus route we were going to take to our accommodation changed multiple times but finally we found (by pure chance) the right track and we got on a train. Then navigated a bus then navigated a walk to our accommodation. It is an apartment style room with a lock box and hidden keys galore. I dropped my phone in the garbage can- ewww- but other than that, we managed to get in. Our room consists of a pull out couch and comes with earplugs- we'll see how that bodes for us later tonight. There are tons of bars around us so if we can't bear the noise maybe we'll join it. 

After settling in (it didn't take very long because there wasn't much space), we walked to a local coffee shop. Evan had a coffee with multiple espresso shots and I had a hot chocolate. I was surprised at how un-sweet the hot chocolate was.

At this point Evan introduced me to his game for the trip- a colorful photo challenge. I agreed to play and we each selected a color (green for Evan and yellow for me). Our goal was to get as many photos of things that were that color in Zurich. Evan would then create collages of our colors.

We continued walking (while snapping photos!) and finally landed at a brewery- Bier Lab- and sampled a flight of their house pours. They had this super cool map that linked every beer I've ever seen together in some sort of way. Evan and I spent a lot of time studying it. Eventually I went to the bathroom but was unprepared for the labels "dammen" and "herren". I took a chance on dammen and I think I was right because the toilet seat lid was pink. 

After we took a walk along the water where I was surprised to see a rainbow row vibe, much like Amsterdam. We watched as the sun lowered over the water. There were tons of cafes along the waterline and they were packed with people enjoying a drink. 

There were also chocolate shops. We had to stop for Swiss chocolate and where better than Laderach, one of the most famous shops?

We continued on down a cobblestone alleyway until we found Chuchi, a famous fondue restaurant. We ate cheese fondue, drank wine from the Swiss countryside and tried a traditional Swiss dinner dish made with veal, mushroom sauce and chips. It was delicious. 

After dinner we wandered through Zurich's Old Town and stumbled upon a street violinist so we listened for awhile. After a few songs, we continued our walk and eventually, we found a cocktail bar with a piano player and settled in for one more drink. The music was wonderful, but the combination of an overnight flight, a full day of navigating Zurich, and a very full dinner was catching up with us.

So we called it an early night.

We left the bar a little before 9 and walked the 30 minutes back to our apartment. We climbed into our pull-out couch, looked at the earplugs sitting nearby, and crossed our fingers that we wouldn't actually need them.

From Ginza to Goodbye

 Sep 11, 2025

We were up early to pack and then walked to Starbucks- one of the only places open- for breakfast and coffee. We then went to the park and sat near the pond to achieve some zen before our 24 hours of travel began. Japan we will miss you  

We took a 2 hour train to get to the airport. We then had Shake Shack for lunch. WHAT?! I know, but it was so good. Then we took a 3 hour flight to Taiwan. We had a 3 hour layover there and we spent almost all of it wandering the unique gates and shops. Each gate has a different theme to educate people about history or culture. There was one about ancient Chinese medicine, one about forest animals, and ours was about marine wildlife and coral. It was something I had never seen before. We decided to purchase some Taiwanese snacks that looked new and interesting to us- honey tangerine nougat crackers, chocolate (Evan tried it and said it's incredibly bitter so we're going to try to use it for baking) and oolong tea. We then boarded our 14 hour flight bound for Chicago. We got our own row which was such a game changer. We both slept on and off so once we landed in Chicago were feeling pretty good. We got our bags and by the time we made it to our apartment determined we had been traveling for over 26 hours- yikes! It was completely worth it. This will be a trip that's hard to top. 

Japan, You Were a Hoot

 Sep 10, 2025

Our last morning in Osaka started with what may have been the best mango of Evan's life. He raved about it while he cut it. He raved about it while he ate it. He continued raving about it even after it was gone. Ok, noted. Japan has the best mangos.  

After checking out of our hotel, we headed to the train station where we picked up ekiben, the beautifully prepared bento boxes sold specifically for train travel. Eating an ekiben aboard the shinkansen is the epitome of living like a local and we were determined to do it right. Mine contained salmon roe, sea urchin, and egg, three of my favorite things. Evan's came with something we'd never seen before: a self-heating container. By pulling a small string attached to the bottom of the box, a chemical heating pack activated beneath the meal, warming it right at our seats. It was incredibly clever, although the environmentalist in me couldn't help but wonder how eco-friendly it actually was...

As the countryside rolled by outside our window, we enjoyed our lunches, reclined our seats, and settled in for a nap during our longest shinkansen ride of the trip (about two and a half hours back to Tokyo). This time, however, we weren't returning to Akihabara. Earlier in the trip we'd stayed in Akihabara, famous for anime, manga, arcades and electronics stores. For our final night, we chose Ginza, Tokyo's elegant side. Known for luxury shopping, upscale department stores, art galleries, and beautifully designed streets, Ginza feels polished and sophisticated. Our room wasn't quite ready, so after dropping off our luggage we headed back out on what had become a trip-long mission: Finding a very specific bottle of Japanese whisky. We had searched liquor stores across multiple cities without success, so when we finally spotted it sitting on a shelf in Ginza, we could hardly believe it. It was the last bottle. We'll take it! Feeling triumphant, we wandered into the basement food hall of one of Ginza's department stores. Japanese department store basements, known as depachika, are famous for their incredible food halls. I treated myself to a salted caramel macaron that looked better than it tasted.

Once we officially checked into our hotel, we discovered an unexpected surprise waiting in our room: A massage chair. Given how much walking we'd done over the past two weeks, this may have been one of the most appreciated hotel amenities of the entire trip. 

Refreshed, after a few chair massages, we set out once again in search of Evan's favorite sake, Two Rabbits. Unfortunately, despite checking multiple shops, it remained elusive.

We needed a pick me up after failing to find Evan's sake, so we stopped for ice cream and enjoyed it in a nearby park. Then it was on to our next destination, an owl café.

Japan is known for its themed cafés—everything from cats and hedgehogs to capybaras—and owl cafés are among the more unusual. We met owls of all shapes and sizes, gently held them on our arms, and carefully stroked the tops of their heads all while side eyeing them wondering how safe this actually was. It was certainly not something that was on our radar before coming to Japan but it was our last day so why not?

For dinner we headed to a ramen shop where ordering happens almost entirely through a vending machine outside the restaurant. You choose your meal, pay at the machine, receive a ticket, and hand it to the staff once you're seated. So, we did just that. However, at another ramen restaurant earlier in the trip, toppings like eggs and green onions had been ordered separately. Assuming this restaurant worked the same way, we enthusiastically added all the extras.

What arrived at our table was two fully loaded bowls of ramen PLUS separate servings of every topping we'd just ordered. Oops. It was absolutely delicious. It was also enough food for about four people.

After dinner we squeezed in one last shopping trip, including a wonderful Japanese antique store where we found a few hidden treasures for gifts. Evan also admired several beautiful haori, traditional hip-length jackets originally worn over a kimono. Once practical garments for warmth and protection, today they're often appreciated as wearable art thanks to their intricate woven patterns and craftsmanship.

Unfortunately, the ones he loved weren't exactly in our budget.

Back at the hotel we curled up in bed and started watching Sakamoto Days, a wildly popular manga that had just been adapted into an anime series earlier this year. The story follows Taro Sakamoto, a legendary retired hitman trying to live an ordinary life as a convenience store owner, even though he still possesses superhuman fighting skills. Within the first episode he was catching bullets with chopsticks. We were hooked.

It wasn't the grand finale to Japan we might have expected when we first landed two weeks earlier. Instead, it was a day filled with simple pleasures: a perfect mango, one lucky bottle of whisky, ice cream in the park, owls perched on our arms, a delicious bowl of ramen, and an evening spent laughing together over an anime we'd stumbled upon.

It was the most perfect, unexpected way to spend our last night in Japan.

Sakai Steel to Stadium Cheers

 Sep 9, 2025

After breakfast at our hotel—a buffet with both Japanese and Western options—we hopped on the train to Sakai, a city that's been famous for producing handcrafted knives for more than 600 years. Originally known for forging samurai swords, Sakai's craftsmen transitioned to kitchen knives after swords were banned during the Meiji era. Today, many of Japan's top chefs still seek out Sakai blades because of their incredible craftsmanship. Needless to say, Evan was in heaven. (And I'm so glad this was worth it because the walk from the train to the knife shop was 20 minutes in direct sunlight at 100 degrees and Evan was not liking that one bit) 

We spent time admiring knives of every shape, size, and material. We learned about carbon steel versus stainless steel (one holds a sharper edge but requires much more maintenance), hand-forged blades versus machine-pressed blades, and beautiful Damascus steel, whose dozens of folded layers create the distinctive rippling patterns on the blade. Even the handles came in a surprising variety of materials, including oak, stone, and buffalo horn. It didn't take long to discover one very important thing: Evan has expensive taste. (but that should be obvious because he chose me 😉) After much deliberation, he chose THE knife, along with a beautifully crafted wooden sheath called a saya to protect it.

From there, we visited the Sakai Knife Museum, where we learned that a traditional Japanese knife is rarely the work of just one person. Each knife passes through the hands of three master craftsmen: the blacksmith, who forges the blade and engraves it with his signature; the sharpener, who creates its razor-sharp edge; and the handle maker, who finishes the piece. It was fascinating to realize just how much expertise goes into creating a single kitchen knife.

After all that shopping, we rewarded ourselves by heading back to our favorite food market for lunch. This time we sampled eel over egg, pork katsu, and fresh king crab. Choosing the crab was half the fun. We picked our own leg, watched it go straight onto the grill, and then waited while the stall owner tried to figure out where exactly they were going to seat us. He sent us to walk around the market a bit, however after returning, they still hadn't solved the problem, so they unfolded a card table in the corner just for us. Armed with gloves and kitchen scissors, we dug into some of the most tender crab either of us had ever tasted.

We decided to treat ourselves by booking massages after lunch. We were on vacation after all. Lost in translation, our full-body massages became foot massages and our serene atmosphere became a big screen TV with surround sound. What was playing you ask? Jurassic World. Nothing says relaxation like listening to people scream as they're being eaten by dinosaurs. To add to the fun, the man giving me my massage was using so much pressure on my feet that my legs were twitching. I had to ask him to ease up several times to which he would nod, wait until I closed my eyes, and then resume his hard as nails squeezing on the balls of my feet. 

Despite the dinosaur soundtrack and the near-death foot massage, I have to admit, my feet felt amazing afterward.

That evening we boarded the train to Hanshin Koshien Stadium, home of the Hanshin Tigers and one of Japan's most iconic baseball venues. Opened in 1924, it's the country's oldest professional baseball stadium and is considered a pilgrimage site for baseball fans. The atmosphere was unlike anything we'd ever experienced. Every single player has their own personalized cheering song, and the crowd knows every word. A conductor and drummer lead the chants while thousands of fans clap, sing, and cheer in perfect unison. Even though we had no idea what we were saying, it was impossible not to get caught up in the energy.

One of the most unique things about the game was the beer girls. They wore mini kegs on their backs and when you waved them over they poured draft beer directly at your seat. At six dollars a beer we couldn't say no. We noticed the guys in front of us drinking bright pink beverages and asked what they were. Despite speaking very little English, he immediately ordered one for us to try. In fact, he kept using his drink vouchers to buy us more beverages throughout the game and even shared some of his jerky with us.

A few innings later, someone behind us leaned forward and asked, "Did I hear you say you're from Chicago?" It turned out he was from Osaka but had just finished his freshman year at Northwestern University in Evanston. He was heading back to Illinois in less than a week to start his sophomore year. We spent much of the game chatting with him and his mother, who didn't speak much English but insisted we try some traditional green tea sweets she'd brought with her. Before the game ended, we exchanged phone numbers and restaurant recommendations, hoping we'd have the chance to meet up once he was back in Chicago.

One of the things that continued to surprise us throughout Japan was just how kind everyone was. Time and time again, complete strangers went out of their way to make us feel welcome, whether that meant buying us a drink, sharing a snack, or simply making conversation. It was something we noticed almost every day, and this night at the ballpark was one of the best examples.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a quick stop in Shinsaibashi for what can only be described as a glamorous international dinner. McDonald's. 😆

We gave the claw machines another shot (still no luck), made one final attempt to find Evan his elusive late-night gyoza, and eventually admitted defeat.

After a full day of knife shopping, dino massages, baseball cheering, and making new friends, we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.