Samurai Auro

 My first summer living in Genoa and I had already spent half of it on the other side of Italy, in the house of my in-laws. The second half of the summer I spent even farther away from my new home. On the 18th of August, Auro and I took the plane and flew to Osaka, Japan. Remo, who had not seen his boat for nearly a year, had left one week before us and was waiting for us at the airport. Auro and I were invited by my (former) boss and stayed in the guesthouse belonging to the institute where I used to work (in Kyoto). Still suffering from 'morning sickness' there were some days that I had to stay in bed while Remo took care of Auro, but luckily there were also many days that we were able to go out and let Auro discover Japanese playgrounds, toy stores and even the zoo. Having to spend hours on trains to get to these places just made him happier. Of course I also had the opportunity to meet my friends/ex-colleagues and got a complete update of the project. Despite the (pregnancy) nausea and tiredness it was well worth the long travel!

The picture below was taken in Eigamura (a theme park where you can visit locations that were used in Japanese historical movies ... you know, the ones with samurai and ninja!). Auro and Remo are posing with some samurai that had just re-enacted a sword fight. A performance that had left Auro gasping in awe ;-)