Saturday we slept in and got a late start out to Matsushima. Matsushima is ranked as one of Japan's "Three Great Views" because of all the pine covered islands in the Bay. I probably wouldn't build it up quite that much but it was a nice day trip. Date Masamune was not allowed to build two castles...so on the coast at Matsushima he built a big "temple"...big enough for all his samurai...to get around that little rule. Because of the Destination Campaign there were special events going on and things were crowded. We walked around a small shrine area and then the bigger island that you get to over a bridge. They had all sorts of special events going on there. Lots of festival foods--Matsushima is famous for oysters (no thanks). We had heard Taiko drums on our walk over and then big band music while we were walking on all the trails. After living in the city for several months this was the place Triss went to get back into nature. We went to a little museum/tea house place but skipped the tea. They have it set up so you sit on tatami mats and look out over the islands. It was a nice day but very crowded on the train ride home and we ended up standing. My knee started hurting again from keeping balance.
So Sunday we stayed in until lunch time and then just went downtown to a couple big department stores. We walked by the new ColdStone Ice cream store...the line was unbelievably long...just like when the first Krispy Kreme opened here. The girls making the ice cream concotions were singing songs. It was quite a people watching event.
We went on to Daie where the nice gentleman at the Daiwabo booth at spring market had told me I could find their fabric in Japan and sure enough on the 7th floor there was a big fabric/crafts section. The patchwork quilting section wasn't large by our standards but had lots of the taupes and wovens. I got a few of whatever they call their fat quarters to add to my collection. Fabric is more expensive than at home but the Daiwabo, I think, worked out cheaper...anyway it was the hunting and finding.
Today, Monday, it is raining. I'm going to stay in and rest my knee, clean house, and experiment with trying to make a lasagna in a toaster oven. Wish me luck!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Zuihoden & Sendai City Museum
Thursday Triss didn't have any afternoon classes as the kids had gone on a field trip, so he took some hours off and we explored a few places neither of us had seen.
First stop however was his bank. Japan is a cash society. Credit cards are not widely accepted. Their first paper money is 1000 Y or about $10. They have 100 Y and 500 Y coins. Most males I know hate carrying change around in their pockets so Triss had a bag full of coins. Banks here also don't stay open late so his bank is always closed before he gets home from work. So we took the opportunity to take his sack o' coins in. He was guessing it was around $300...turned out to be a little over twice that.
Then we headed off to Sendai station where I showed my special JR pass at the tourist office and got a limited edition laquerware bookmark.
Outside to the bus area, we bought tickets on the LOOPLE.
We had enough time to go to Zuihouden---the Mausoleum for Date Masamune and then to Sendai City Museum where the featured exhibition is Date Masamune The Last Sengoku Warlord. They also had artifacts showing the history of the Sendai area. Tristan remembers studying many of the items in his Japanese Art History class at UW.
The highlight of our time at the museum was when we got to the "kid's" room and there were no kids. They had a helmet to wear and an actual Koto to play. I'll have pictures up. It was totally hands on and the gal working in there couldn't have been nicer.
We walked across the street to the International Center. There they have lots of meeting rooms but also a room with publications from all over so you can read a newspaper or magazine like Reader's Digest. Triss has been there many times when volunteering for city events. While there we ran into one of the Kiwis--Krystal from New Zealand. She is a CIR (coordinator for international relations). That position requires fluency in Japanese as you end up translating for city publications. She and Kaleb (also from NZ whom we met in the spring) trade off...one week at the International Center and one week at City Hall.
We had missed the last of the Loople buses so caught a regular bus back into town and got off at one of the covered arcades where they have the tanabata hanging. Because they are having the Sendai Destination Campaign they have items from different festivals out to show them off. Tanabata festival is in August and Sendai has one of the most popular/best known of these. Triss says you can't walk thru' the area easily because of the crowds of people and also all the tanabata hanging down so you can't see. They are all very different and beautiful and quite fun to see hung from giant bamboo poles.
We ate dinner out and headed home.
Today we are headed out on a day trip to Matsushima. The weather has been wonderful.
First stop however was his bank. Japan is a cash society. Credit cards are not widely accepted. Their first paper money is 1000 Y or about $10. They have 100 Y and 500 Y coins. Most males I know hate carrying change around in their pockets so Triss had a bag full of coins. Banks here also don't stay open late so his bank is always closed before he gets home from work. So we took the opportunity to take his sack o' coins in. He was guessing it was around $300...turned out to be a little over twice that.
Then we headed off to Sendai station where I showed my special JR pass at the tourist office and got a limited edition laquerware bookmark.
Outside to the bus area, we bought tickets on the LOOPLE.
We had enough time to go to Zuihouden---the Mausoleum for Date Masamune and then to Sendai City Museum where the featured exhibition is Date Masamune The Last Sengoku Warlord. They also had artifacts showing the history of the Sendai area. Tristan remembers studying many of the items in his Japanese Art History class at UW.
The highlight of our time at the museum was when we got to the "kid's" room and there were no kids. They had a helmet to wear and an actual Koto to play. I'll have pictures up. It was totally hands on and the gal working in there couldn't have been nicer.
We walked across the street to the International Center. There they have lots of meeting rooms but also a room with publications from all over so you can read a newspaper or magazine like Reader's Digest. Triss has been there many times when volunteering for city events. While there we ran into one of the Kiwis--Krystal from New Zealand. She is a CIR (coordinator for international relations). That position requires fluency in Japanese as you end up translating for city publications. She and Kaleb (also from NZ whom we met in the spring) trade off...one week at the International Center and one week at City Hall.
We had missed the last of the Loople buses so caught a regular bus back into town and got off at one of the covered arcades where they have the tanabata hanging. Because they are having the Sendai Destination Campaign they have items from different festivals out to show them off. Tanabata festival is in August and Sendai has one of the most popular/best known of these. Triss says you can't walk thru' the area easily because of the crowds of people and also all the tanabata hanging down so you can't see. They are all very different and beautiful and quite fun to see hung from giant bamboo poles.
We ate dinner out and headed home.
Today we are headed out on a day trip to Matsushima. The weather has been wonderful.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Asakusa and back to Sendai
Ok, so I'm a little out of order.
After Hakone we came back to Tokyo to spend Sat. night at Sakura Hostel again. Sunday morning we went out around the temple grounds. They are getting ready for some sort of anniversary so there were food vendors out besides the large shopping areas that are always there. Asakusa area and Sensoji Temple are some of the biggest tourist draws so you see lots and lots of foreigners. I learned that at Buddhist temples worshippers use incense to "wash" themselves. You can buy a little bundle of incense that you light and stick in a large container with sand then pull the smoke over you. (At a Shinto temple one would use water to rinse your hands and rinse out your mouth.)
We walked around the vendor booths and went in search of the Chingodo Shrine dedicated to the Tanuki--Japanese raccoon dog. While strolling through the vendors on the way there I found a lady who paints scenes on the traditional head cloths. She had several framed up that were just wonderful and it took me a good 10 minutes to make a decision on one. I picked cherry blossoms...they just seem to be my thing.
Triss was getting worried about getting tickets for the Shinkansen home so we headed out to Ueno around noon and got my special Miyagi/Sendai Destination pass for a discounted rate. We learned something had gone on with the northern lines and they hadn't run all morning. All reserved seats were sold out for the rest of the day but we could go unreserved with no guarantee of seats. I had wanted to go out to the Harajuku area so we decided it would be good to let some time pass and hope the trains would be less crowded a little later in the day. We ate lunch and I did some more souvenir shopping. By 3:30 we headed back and arrived just as a train pulled up. We had to run to get to one of the unreserved cars and of course all the seat were taken so we ended up standing, with all my luggage, in the area between cars. We ended up sharing that area with about 10 other passengers as people kept crowding on at the next couple stops. Finally we got to a stop where more people got off and I found a seat. The older lady next to me got off a stop later and Triss could finally join me. All in all we stood for about 1 hr of the 2 hr trip. Tristan found out later that a faulty switch had caused a train to stop before getting in to Tokyo. Passengers had to walk along the tracks to the JR East train line. On every trip we have made to Japan we have had some incident with trains not running. I'm told it's VERY rare...so maybe you shouldn't stand too close to me...I must give off some bad vibe :)
As we approached Sendai station Triss said he could feel the excitement of "being home". We took a taxi back to his house, ran over to the store for frozen pizza and ate dinner while watching an episode of Feasting On Waves.
The next two days I stayed close to home as my knee was still bothering me. Did laundry, dishes, general cleaning (which they teased Triss about at school...your mom doing your cleaning for you?...) I did go to the store by myself and tried to figure out enough by pictures on food to come up with a dinner which came out pretty good if I do say so myself. Cheese is quite expensive here but I used spaghetti noodles, diced tomatoes, a pouch of spaghetti sauce, & fresh green beans to make a stove top cassarole. I turned a couple slices of bread into homemade croutons as a topping along with shredded mozzarella. Also managed a decent green salad.
Wednesday I went to school with Triss. There were a couple hours before Triss' first class so I sat at a back table and Triss and I worked on simple sentences they would understand to tell them a little about myself. The head teacher brought me a cup of coffee, Triss gave me water, and the tea lady brought me green tea...caffiene overload and to be polite I had to drink some of all of it. Then the head teacher gave me a bunch of really neat gifts--I had given her some fabric when we visited in March. Her gifts were a bit overwhelming and so unexpected that it made me tear up.
The principal was not in when we first got there but when he arrived we went to deliver my gift of chocolate. He had us sit and visited with us for about 1/2 hr. I again had tea served to me. We then delivered the other chocolate I brought for the Head Teacher, the two English teachers who Triss works with, the Vice Principal, the tea lady who thinks of Triss as a son, and the Accountant who has helped Triss tremendously especially when he lost his wallet. The tea lady also distributed the little wrapped chocolates I brought for everyone. I finally didn't have to lug around 13 lbs of chocolate!
I caused quite a stir as I walked into the first class. They were very excited. I wrote my name on the board and they practiced (l's and r's sound the same to them so my name is quite fun) and then asked them to please call me Mrs. Graham (which they know from Tristan being Mr. Graham). I am from America, I live in Washington State. I have 2 kids (Triss then had them practice. One kid - Two kids as they are learning plurals) I have 4 cats, Tim, Rowdy, Oliver, and Suki. Suki is the only girl...boy, boy, boy, girl...(pointing at pictures of them)
Anyway, you get the idea. Triss had printed out pictures for me to put up on the board of the cats, Alan, and clip art of a horse, cow and chicken for when I said I grew up on a farm. We stopped often for them to practice words...one cow, 9 cows etc...
Then came part two where they got into groups of four and using their dictionaries and textbooks were to come up with questions to ask me. A question in English earned them 2 stamps, a question in Japanese earned 1. Everyone asked in English and they were much better than I could have been in Japanese. Triss asked for volunteers and someone did but by the end of class there were more volunteers than time. One guy asked me if I knew the prime minister (it changed like last week so of course I had no idea!). I got asked what kind of kid Tristan was (Triss told a group they could ask about him so of course they thought that was cool). It ended up being quite fun and again I got to see my son in a whole new light as he is very comfortable with his role in the class showing great confidence and caring in dealing with his kids.
Triss had a JET programme meeting downtown so we left after school lunch and I wandered around for an hour while he was in his meeting. We then went and he got new glasses...eye test and picked new frames. They had the lenses in stock and would have them done in 30 mins. We headed over to the foreign food store and bought some New Zealand Red Cheddar, Brie & French Bread loaf for dinner. Got his glasses and finally got home about 13 hrs after leaving that morning. It was a good day!
After Hakone we came back to Tokyo to spend Sat. night at Sakura Hostel again. Sunday morning we went out around the temple grounds. They are getting ready for some sort of anniversary so there were food vendors out besides the large shopping areas that are always there. Asakusa area and Sensoji Temple are some of the biggest tourist draws so you see lots and lots of foreigners. I learned that at Buddhist temples worshippers use incense to "wash" themselves. You can buy a little bundle of incense that you light and stick in a large container with sand then pull the smoke over you. (At a Shinto temple one would use water to rinse your hands and rinse out your mouth.)
We walked around the vendor booths and went in search of the Chingodo Shrine dedicated to the Tanuki--Japanese raccoon dog. While strolling through the vendors on the way there I found a lady who paints scenes on the traditional head cloths. She had several framed up that were just wonderful and it took me a good 10 minutes to make a decision on one. I picked cherry blossoms...they just seem to be my thing.
Triss was getting worried about getting tickets for the Shinkansen home so we headed out to Ueno around noon and got my special Miyagi/Sendai Destination pass for a discounted rate. We learned something had gone on with the northern lines and they hadn't run all morning. All reserved seats were sold out for the rest of the day but we could go unreserved with no guarantee of seats. I had wanted to go out to the Harajuku area so we decided it would be good to let some time pass and hope the trains would be less crowded a little later in the day. We ate lunch and I did some more souvenir shopping. By 3:30 we headed back and arrived just as a train pulled up. We had to run to get to one of the unreserved cars and of course all the seat were taken so we ended up standing, with all my luggage, in the area between cars. We ended up sharing that area with about 10 other passengers as people kept crowding on at the next couple stops. Finally we got to a stop where more people got off and I found a seat. The older lady next to me got off a stop later and Triss could finally join me. All in all we stood for about 1 hr of the 2 hr trip. Tristan found out later that a faulty switch had caused a train to stop before getting in to Tokyo. Passengers had to walk along the tracks to the JR East train line. On every trip we have made to Japan we have had some incident with trains not running. I'm told it's VERY rare...so maybe you shouldn't stand too close to me...I must give off some bad vibe :)
As we approached Sendai station Triss said he could feel the excitement of "being home". We took a taxi back to his house, ran over to the store for frozen pizza and ate dinner while watching an episode of Feasting On Waves.
The next two days I stayed close to home as my knee was still bothering me. Did laundry, dishes, general cleaning (which they teased Triss about at school...your mom doing your cleaning for you?...) I did go to the store by myself and tried to figure out enough by pictures on food to come up with a dinner which came out pretty good if I do say so myself. Cheese is quite expensive here but I used spaghetti noodles, diced tomatoes, a pouch of spaghetti sauce, & fresh green beans to make a stove top cassarole. I turned a couple slices of bread into homemade croutons as a topping along with shredded mozzarella. Also managed a decent green salad.
Wednesday I went to school with Triss. There were a couple hours before Triss' first class so I sat at a back table and Triss and I worked on simple sentences they would understand to tell them a little about myself. The head teacher brought me a cup of coffee, Triss gave me water, and the tea lady brought me green tea...caffiene overload and to be polite I had to drink some of all of it. Then the head teacher gave me a bunch of really neat gifts--I had given her some fabric when we visited in March. Her gifts were a bit overwhelming and so unexpected that it made me tear up.
The principal was not in when we first got there but when he arrived we went to deliver my gift of chocolate. He had us sit and visited with us for about 1/2 hr. I again had tea served to me. We then delivered the other chocolate I brought for the Head Teacher, the two English teachers who Triss works with, the Vice Principal, the tea lady who thinks of Triss as a son, and the Accountant who has helped Triss tremendously especially when he lost his wallet. The tea lady also distributed the little wrapped chocolates I brought for everyone. I finally didn't have to lug around 13 lbs of chocolate!
I caused quite a stir as I walked into the first class. They were very excited. I wrote my name on the board and they practiced (l's and r's sound the same to them so my name is quite fun) and then asked them to please call me Mrs. Graham (which they know from Tristan being Mr. Graham). I am from America, I live in Washington State. I have 2 kids (Triss then had them practice. One kid - Two kids as they are learning plurals) I have 4 cats, Tim, Rowdy, Oliver, and Suki. Suki is the only girl...boy, boy, boy, girl...(pointing at pictures of them)
Anyway, you get the idea. Triss had printed out pictures for me to put up on the board of the cats, Alan, and clip art of a horse, cow and chicken for when I said I grew up on a farm. We stopped often for them to practice words...one cow, 9 cows etc...
Then came part two where they got into groups of four and using their dictionaries and textbooks were to come up with questions to ask me. A question in English earned them 2 stamps, a question in Japanese earned 1. Everyone asked in English and they were much better than I could have been in Japanese. Triss asked for volunteers and someone did but by the end of class there were more volunteers than time. One guy asked me if I knew the prime minister (it changed like last week so of course I had no idea!). I got asked what kind of kid Tristan was (Triss told a group they could ask about him so of course they thought that was cool). It ended up being quite fun and again I got to see my son in a whole new light as he is very comfortable with his role in the class showing great confidence and caring in dealing with his kids.
Triss had a JET programme meeting downtown so we left after school lunch and I wandered around for an hour while he was in his meeting. We then went and he got new glasses...eye test and picked new frames. They had the lenses in stock and would have them done in 30 mins. We headed over to the foreign food store and bought some New Zealand Red Cheddar, Brie & French Bread loaf for dinner. Got his glasses and finally got home about 13 hrs after leaving that morning. It was a good day!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
School
Just a quick update. Today, Wednesday, I spent the day at Tristan's Jr Hi. I was the lesson for 2 of the first year classes. I did a self introduction and Tristan had made a quiz for them to fill in. Then in groups they were to come up with questions to ask me in English. It was quite fun and they all did very well for being first year students in English. We left the house at 7AM and just got home so over 12 hrs gone. I'll make an effort to catch up on everything tomorrow. Good night for now.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Arrival and Hakone Weekend
The flight over was long but uneventful and we arrived over 30 mins early. Tokyo was HOT and HUMID which I felt from the moment I got off the plane.
I got through immigration & customs quickly. My bags were some of the first off the plane. Found my cell phone rental place and learned how to text. Got a ticket on the Skyliner train to Tokyo and was able to manage my two suitcases and backpack without too much trouble.
While riding the train, Triss & I sent texts back and forth--he was heading down on the Shinkansen. He arrived at Ueno station just 15 mins after I did. Aiko (Alan's finacee) arrived about the same time and we all headed off to check into Sakura Hostel. We then headed off to dinner at Dennys and vistited for awhile!
We said goodbye to Aiko and headed back to shower and sleep with the AC running. At 11PM someone started pounding on our door waking both of us out of a deep sleep. I think they had the wrong room and we just went back to sleep without opening the door.
The next morning we headed out to Shinjuku to buy a Hakone Free Pass, which is not free but is the best bargain going. For about $50 each we had a two day pass that provided all transportation for Hakone--trains, gondola, ship, and buses. We had a 90 min train ride to the Hakone station where we switched to the scenic Hakone Tozan Railway that goes on switchbacks up the mountain. We got off at a station near the ryokan where we would be staying and took a taxi to get there. It was too early to check in but they took our bag and got us all checked in. We used our passes to catch a bus into Hakone machi (town), ate lunch and wandered around the shops. It was cooler in the mountains and then got windy, clouded up and sprinkled a little but was still pleasant.
We walked to the Hakone Check Point and Museum which controlled people travelling between Kyoto and Tokyo during the Edo Period and then along the Avenue of the Cedars--a small remanant of the road that was lined with cedar trees to shade travellers. I'll have pictures up in the gallery. More info about the area here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5205.html
We got back to our ryokan about 5pm. Dinner was served in our room by our maid at 6PM and all the courses were brought in over the next 45 mins. I was still fighting jet lag and so headed off for a quick shower and soak in the small inside bath (hot springs or onsen). Our futons were laid out when I got back to the room about 7:30PM and I went straight to bed and never heard Triss come back from the baths. We both woke up early the next morning so I went to the outdoor bath around 5AM and had a nice soak. At all the onsen we have visited there are separate men's and women's baths but you do have to adjust to the idea of soaking with other people. There is a lot of etiquette involved in proper bathing. All your washing is done away from the bath. You sit on a stool and use your long wash cloth to wash from head to toe and rinse off. When you get into the bath to soak your wash cloth should never end up in the water so most people fold it on top of their heads. When leaving the bath to go back to the changing room for your towel, you should use your washcloth to remove as much water as possible.
Breakfast came at 8 after which we packed up and headed out to explore some more. We took the train to the Hakone Open-Air Museum and wandered around the grounds for a couple hours. The highlight of this place was the "foot onsen"--a place to soak your feet in hot springs water after walking around.
Back on the train and at the next stop transfer to the cable car for a 9 minute ride up the mountain to the Ropeway gondolas for a 30 minute ride over the mountain to end up at Lake Ashi. You can get off part way through and take the Owakundani Nature Trail (Great Boiling Valley) through sulfurous steaming fissures but I had twisted my knee so we didn't stop.
At Lake Ashi we grabbed a hot dog and then got on one of the ships that take you across the lake and back to Hakonemachi. There was a pirate aboard our ship and I was determined to get a picture of him with Sheldon, Knit Picks' mascot and world-travelling turtle. The pirate was there to have pictures taken with tourists by a "professional" and then you buy them at the end of the cruise but Tristan went up and in Japanese asked him if he would pose with the turtle for me. I think the shock of having a couple of "gaijin" ask about a stuffed turtle caught everyone off guard so he let us. The photographer was laughing his head off as were most of the onlookers but we got our shot and didn't have to pay anything. It was quite fun. On a side note, while I was taking pictures in the gondola ride I got Sheldon out and a young Japanese couple saw what I was doing and they got a little stuffed dog out and took his picture so we weren't the only odd ones on vacation!
Our day had been quite full so after collecting our luggage at the ryokan we headed back to the station to catch the train into Tokyo. This time for an additional $9 each we upgraded to take the RomanceCar train. A bit more plush and with assigned seating it seems to appeal to older couples despite the provokative name. The train we caught was an express with only one stop before heading to Tokyo. The seats still weren't big enough for two of us to sit side by side comfortably so when no one else boarded we moved up to some empty seats and turned one set around so 4 seats were facing each other. Triss and I could sit opposite and put our tired feet up (shoes off!). The conductor came by asking for our tickets as we weren't in our assigned seating. Triss gave a quick explanation, the conductor corrected his paperwork and we were comfortably headed back to Tokyo.
I'll work at getting the pictures up and post more tomorrow.
I got through immigration & customs quickly. My bags were some of the first off the plane. Found my cell phone rental place and learned how to text. Got a ticket on the Skyliner train to Tokyo and was able to manage my two suitcases and backpack without too much trouble.
While riding the train, Triss & I sent texts back and forth--he was heading down on the Shinkansen. He arrived at Ueno station just 15 mins after I did. Aiko (Alan's finacee) arrived about the same time and we all headed off to check into Sakura Hostel. We then headed off to dinner at Dennys and vistited for awhile!
We said goodbye to Aiko and headed back to shower and sleep with the AC running. At 11PM someone started pounding on our door waking both of us out of a deep sleep. I think they had the wrong room and we just went back to sleep without opening the door.
The next morning we headed out to Shinjuku to buy a Hakone Free Pass, which is not free but is the best bargain going. For about $50 each we had a two day pass that provided all transportation for Hakone--trains, gondola, ship, and buses. We had a 90 min train ride to the Hakone station where we switched to the scenic Hakone Tozan Railway that goes on switchbacks up the mountain. We got off at a station near the ryokan where we would be staying and took a taxi to get there. It was too early to check in but they took our bag and got us all checked in. We used our passes to catch a bus into Hakone machi (town), ate lunch and wandered around the shops. It was cooler in the mountains and then got windy, clouded up and sprinkled a little but was still pleasant.
We walked to the Hakone Check Point and Museum which controlled people travelling between Kyoto and Tokyo during the Edo Period and then along the Avenue of the Cedars--a small remanant of the road that was lined with cedar trees to shade travellers. I'll have pictures up in the gallery. More info about the area here: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5205.html
We got back to our ryokan about 5pm. Dinner was served in our room by our maid at 6PM and all the courses were brought in over the next 45 mins. I was still fighting jet lag and so headed off for a quick shower and soak in the small inside bath (hot springs or onsen). Our futons were laid out when I got back to the room about 7:30PM and I went straight to bed and never heard Triss come back from the baths. We both woke up early the next morning so I went to the outdoor bath around 5AM and had a nice soak. At all the onsen we have visited there are separate men's and women's baths but you do have to adjust to the idea of soaking with other people. There is a lot of etiquette involved in proper bathing. All your washing is done away from the bath. You sit on a stool and use your long wash cloth to wash from head to toe and rinse off. When you get into the bath to soak your wash cloth should never end up in the water so most people fold it on top of their heads. When leaving the bath to go back to the changing room for your towel, you should use your washcloth to remove as much water as possible.
Breakfast came at 8 after which we packed up and headed out to explore some more. We took the train to the Hakone Open-Air Museum and wandered around the grounds for a couple hours. The highlight of this place was the "foot onsen"--a place to soak your feet in hot springs water after walking around.
Back on the train and at the next stop transfer to the cable car for a 9 minute ride up the mountain to the Ropeway gondolas for a 30 minute ride over the mountain to end up at Lake Ashi. You can get off part way through and take the Owakundani Nature Trail (Great Boiling Valley) through sulfurous steaming fissures but I had twisted my knee so we didn't stop.
At Lake Ashi we grabbed a hot dog and then got on one of the ships that take you across the lake and back to Hakonemachi. There was a pirate aboard our ship and I was determined to get a picture of him with Sheldon, Knit Picks' mascot and world-travelling turtle. The pirate was there to have pictures taken with tourists by a "professional" and then you buy them at the end of the cruise but Tristan went up and in Japanese asked him if he would pose with the turtle for me. I think the shock of having a couple of "gaijin" ask about a stuffed turtle caught everyone off guard so he let us. The photographer was laughing his head off as were most of the onlookers but we got our shot and didn't have to pay anything. It was quite fun. On a side note, while I was taking pictures in the gondola ride I got Sheldon out and a young Japanese couple saw what I was doing and they got a little stuffed dog out and took his picture so we weren't the only odd ones on vacation!
Our day had been quite full so after collecting our luggage at the ryokan we headed back to the station to catch the train into Tokyo. This time for an additional $9 each we upgraded to take the RomanceCar train. A bit more plush and with assigned seating it seems to appeal to older couples despite the provokative name. The train we caught was an express with only one stop before heading to Tokyo. The seats still weren't big enough for two of us to sit side by side comfortably so when no one else boarded we moved up to some empty seats and turned one set around so 4 seats were facing each other. Triss and I could sit opposite and put our tired feet up (shoes off!). The conductor came by asking for our tickets as we weren't in our assigned seating. Triss gave a quick explanation, the conductor corrected his paperwork and we were comfortably headed back to Tokyo.
I'll work at getting the pictures up and post more tomorrow.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Here is where Tristan lives in Sendai...
View Larger Map
...on the right in the 2nd building toward the back, second floor, second apartment. If you swing around and go East on the street you will see the grocery store he frequents.
View Larger Map
...on the right in the 2nd building toward the back, second floor, second apartment. If you swing around and go East on the street you will see the grocery store he frequents.
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