A day in Hanoi

The first crossing. The first thing you do in Hanoi is cross the street, and the guide walks you across the hard one once so the family can do the rest of the trip alone. The last thing you do tonight is watch a light show on the walls of Vietnam's first university.

Morning

Hoan Kiem Lake at seven, before the traffic and before the heat. Mark gets his egg coffee at a café on the lake, and the guide meets the family there. Scooters come from directions a newcomer does not expect, which is why the first crossing is a lesson and not an accident. Every first-timer we know freezes at a Hanoi curb. The guide's job on morning one is to make that a one-time thing.

Then the Old Quarter in one small circle: the streets named for what they sold, a temple the size of a living room, and a stop wherever Elena stops, which will be the fabric street. Nora photographs the power lines. Ben looks for the fries.

Lunch is bun cha, grilled pork with noodles and herbs, with the chili on the side so Ben controls his own bowl. Elena orders from the sign that says chay, which means vegetarian, and she will not need to explain herself. Vietnam has a large Buddhist population and vegetarian food is ordinary here, not a special request.

Afternoon

Tram Line 6, the Hanoi Street Museum, on the edge of Truc Bach Lake. Two-storey tram carriages turned into a walk-through museum of everyday Hanoi life: the food, the crafts, the customs, the clothes, done with sound and smell rather than glass cases. Mark gets his slice of the city's recent history. Ben gets something to touch. It sits between Quan Thanh Temple and Tran Quoc Pagoda, so the walk along the lake afterward is the calm part of the day. Then the rooftop pool at the hotel, because April afternoons in Hanoi are hot and nobody needs to prove otherwise.

Mark's back does not do long walks on broken pavement. When the family moves between neighborhoods it is in a car, not on foot, and never on a scooter.

Evening

Dinner near the hotel, early. Then the Temple of Literature after dark. The night experience runs a few evenings a week, with the courtyards lit and a projection show on the old academy, and it is the compromise: Mark gets Vietnam's first university, the boys get a light show instead of a lecture. We set the Hanoi nights around the evenings it runs, and we tell the boys one story before they walk in so they know what they are looking at.

Where you sleep

Peridot Grand Luxury Boutique Hotel, on Duong Thanh street at the western edge of the Old Quarter. It has an elevator, which rules out half the charming places with narrow stairs, a rooftop pool for the afternoons, and connecting rooms as a real category rather than a request. We confirm the connecting pair in writing, not assume it. Three nights, and the driver for the mountains picks up from the door.