Thursday began really well, I was up and feeling spry by 7 am.  We decided to head to Yokohama to visit the Sankeien Gardens there.  We changed trains in the Shinagawa station and the station felt more like a shopping mall than a train station.  We stopped at a bakery for breakfast on the train, these were some amazing pastries.  There was a ham, cheese, and mayo danish type bun that was SO tasty.  I also had a nut filled bun (gotta go back and get the real name of this) that was great.  And finally I also bought a piece of mellon bread.  I had the ham pastry and the nut pastry, along with a coffee, on the train and saved the mellon bread for a snack at the gardens, it was amazing too.  So so far I am enjoying the food!

Sankeien garden is a typical Japanese-style garden but how it is unique is that it houses buildings of historical importance.  These are buildings from all over that were going to be destroyed or needed better maintenance to preserve them for their historical and cultural significance.  The pagoda of Old Tomyoji is three stories tall and built in 1457.  What I found interesting was all the buildings except for the Hara family residences (original owners of the garden) have been moved to this site.  I imagine they were all disassembled and moved to the site then reassembled.  This care and dedication by a group of people to their heritage is more important than the actual buildings, in my mind. 

I took lots of pictures while at Sankeien, as Oly loaned me his 'other' camera, a Konica Minolta Dimage A2.  When he firsted haned me the camera, I felt like there was no way I could use this thing.  It isn't a small little handheld digital camera.  This is a serious camera that happens to be digital!  And since Oly is something of a shutterbug, I also had the added bonus of living up to his picture standards.  But thankfully, he brought a camera too, this way I should be able to steal some of his really good shots for my album :)

After Sankeien Gardens, we grabbed the bus back to Chinatown...yes we went to Chinatown in Yokohama Japan.  It was a bustling and vibrant area, where every store was a restaurant or food vendor of some kind.  Ok, maybe not every, but 4 of every 5 shops certainly did sell food.  Here's a list of all the food I tried just in Chinatown:  nikkuman, sesame balls with bean paste filling, and green tea ice cream. I did a little shopping in Chinatown, then we strolled down to the Yokohama pier.  This is where the ferries load and unload, and this might have been the strangest design for a pier/dock I've ever seen.  It looked like a modern skateboard park with roads going into it.

From there we walked along the water front...I got to see flying fish in the Yokohama harbor...very cute.  It was nice to be out and walking after such a long time cramped into a tiny seat on an airplane.

Some random observations from the day:  1) Cats here have shorter tails than average...other than that they look like cats back home.  2) I ask a lot of questions.  3) There is not a regular trashcan anywhere...I lugged my plastic trash all the way back to the apartment. 4) It seems to be a universal truth that kids like me...

And that was most of my Thursday...stay tuned for more.

After getting to the airport in Atlanta well over an hour ahead of the time needed (thanks again Alex).  During that time I made several people smile with me Freudian Slippers.  These are the coolest houseshoes/slippers ever made!  I'm not sure how many folks actually understood they were supposed to be Freud though, although that helped to put a secret grin on my face. 

The plane ride was fairly uneventful.  I solved my puzzle fairly quickly (attached is a copy of the unsolved version for anyone so inclined)
 
Then with some pharmacological assistance slept for a good while.  The best part of my flight were the two little ladies who sat next to me.   Kyoko and Chieko, both of whom were probably in their late 60s.  They decided to teach me to count to 10 in Japanese.  They also helped me with a few other words but I'll share with you my new ability to count :-D

Ichi
Ni
San
Shi
Go
Roku
Hichi
Hachi
Ku
Ju


I found out that Kyoko has been in the US since 1955 when she came back to the US with her husband, who was in the US Military. Both ladies were from Augusta on their way to visit family and then spend some time together seeing the sights of their home country. 

Seeing them together was cute and sweet.  Still remembering those two ladies brings a smile to my face.  I hope to one day have a good friend and companion I can travel with like that. 

When I landed, it was off through customs and then to baggage claim, both quite mundane.  Got asked is I had anything to declare...felt like saying something silly but wasn't sure that my sense of humor would have been appreciated by the agent. 

After all that, thankfully Oly was waiting in the arrival area to meet me.  While every sign did have an English translation I have no idea if I could have figured out the train system.  Without him, I could still very well be sitting in the airport trying to decide WHICH train to get on. 

I am not sure how but I feel like I have managed to avoid jetlag...I did immediately want a shower when I arrived at Oly & Kim's place, but beyond that I was still able to head out with Oly to meet Kim at a bar called Carnival where they serve many many import beers and pub food.  The food seemed to be a mix of Japanese and American bar food.  Fries, pizza, spring rolls, dumplings, and paper chicken were all available.  I think we properly toasted my safe arrival in Japan. 

And that, ladies and gentleman, was my first day in Japan!

Now, I'm off to have my day two adventure!

Current Mood: energetic

So, today is the day my Asian adventure begins.  I'm up well before the sun just so I can make sure I'm at the airport in plenty of time to make my 10 AM flight.  It's ok, I have sleeping pills and a pillow to help me get as much rest on the plane as possible.  Oh yeah, and I have earplugs just in case I'm on a flight with small and noisy passengers.

Thanks to Dana, not only do I have books, movies and crossword puzzles but I also have a hand drawn cypher to solve as well.  I would post it for all to see, but as I'm not sure exactly what the message is, I would hate to post something mildly embarrassing.  SO once I solve it, I'll come back and add it for all to enjoy. :-D  Thanks again Dana, and for this the monkey is definitely yours!

Alright, I must be off, got a bit of a trek in front of me and I'm raring to go.  Next post from Japan! Yay!

Current Mood: giddy

Tons of last minute things to do before my flight out to Tokyo tomorrow. 

I hope to keep everyone updated here.

I had lunch with Hugs today at 5 Seasons Brewery.  Goat cheese cheesecake is not exactly what I would call spectacular, but that's alright the company was :-D

Current Mood: excited