A Journey to Hiroshima

We checked out of the ryoken and walked the couple of blocks to the train station easily enough.  Mom expressed her delight at the ryoken experience.  Leo, not so much.  He had a point when he said it wasn't authentic because it was a hotel and not a Mom and Pop B&B type small place.  I get that.  I hear him.  And.  This was near the train station which has been a major part of our planning where to stay.  And it was affordable.

When we got to the train station we hung out at a bakery and Mom and Kenji bought baked goods and drinks to justify out sitting there.  Mom and I bought sandwiches and drinks for the Shinkansen train ride to Hiroshima and as soon as our train appeared on the big board we went through the ticket gates and found our platform, mere minutes before the bullet train arrived.

We boarded and once again Mom & I stowed our big bags near the door.  What a grand thing, not having to heave them over over our heads to the luggage storage over the seats!  Kenji & I sat together with Mom & Leo behind us.  We ate, drank (non-alcoholic), read (me) and dozed (Kenji) and every so often checked his app to see how fast we were going.  The app recorded that at one point we were going 191 mph!  Zowee!

A short 1.75 hours later, what would've taken 4.75 to drive, and we were in Hiroshima.  I noted that it wasn't yet raining.  Perhaps that's the next 3 days, the whole time we're in Hiroshima, as we've seen on the weather apps.  *groan*  We got into the station and found the exit for Taxis easily enough and were soon being whisked away to our hotel.  How grand!

We arrived at the hotel and it's large, has an expansive, elegant lobby and after asking to have rooms next to each other, and that taking a little extra arranging, we were on our way to our rooms.  Kenji had high hopes as the last time we stayed here, 21 years ago, we were given a very large corner room.  That's the main reason he chose this hotel, memories of it being a great place to stay.

The reality of it now is, we booked with hotels.com and got rooms next to the elevator.  The rooms are certainly larger than our rooms in Kyoto and while they aren't futons on the floor, the beds are not far off the floor.  Our view is mainly overlooking the porte cochere (valet area) with a bit of the adjacent marina.  Mom has noted that the TV is the smallest one yet.  LOL.  We gathered laundry and searched the hotel info about what floor it is on for self-service laundry.  Not seeing any info on that, i called the Operator, only to be told no, in fact, the hotel does NOT have self-service laundry, but they DO have a paid laundry service.  *groan*

So a plan was hatched and I offered to go with Mom to a local laundromat Kenji found online.  I downloaded the Uber app so I could get us there and back, allowing Kenji time to do some work work.  We packed all the laundry into his suitcase and off Mom and I went.  I ordered an Uber taxi and a car matching the description showed up, we loaded the suitcase and got in.  The man indicated he wanted to know where we were going.  I looked it up but then realized, I put that info in the app when I requested it.  Why didn't he know it?  I asked if he was Uber taxi and he said no just as another Uber taxi showed up.  I saw the valet speaking with him and I jumped out and yelled "That's my Uber!", The valet told the driver who pulled around to where we were as we unloaded the suitcase and had the new driver put it in *his* taxi.  Sheesh!  Ok, lesson learned.  Laundry was then accomplished.

We walked to a nearby Family Mart, found some items for everyone for dinner, finally got an Uber Taxi back to the hotel, hung up our wash only clothes to dry, ate dinner with the guys.  There is nothing, nuh-thing around our hotel to walk to easily for food.  This isn't going to be a location that Leo can just take off and go exploring like he has the last 2 weeks.  We're going to have to plan in advance for breakfasts and dinners, if we're back at the hotel early like we have been in the past at times.

A Journey of Tradition

Yesterday (again, too wiped out to blog last night) was moving day.  Mom & I were mostly packed the night before to make an easier morning.  Showered and 7/11 breakfast on our beds, we had plenty of time and didn't feel rushed.  We met the guys downstairs at 10 am and we all stored our bags and we re out the door.

We headed to the Kyoto Palace.  Kyoto had been the capital a couple of different times in history.  Whichever family was in power decided where they wanted the capital to be at the time.  We took a bus, Kyoto doesn't have an extensive subway system like Tokyo and Osaka did, so we've been taking buses, and had a short walk to the Palace.  The walk from where we entered the Palace grounds and where the entrance to the Palace were was a looooong walk on gravel, so it was little harder.  The grounds were beautiful, full of many different types of trees.  A couple of friendly, locals baseball games were taking place on fields that had been transformed for that.

We got to the entrance for the Palace and learned that guided tours are mandatory, no going walking around all willy-nilly on your own, and that the next one wasn't for 2.5 hours.  Well, fudge.  We didn't want to stick around that long nor come back.  We found a nearby Visitor's Center and sought refuge from the heat and humidity for a bit, as well as a welcome bathroom break.  Mom and I found a gift shop, because, of course we did, and I bought myself a purple coin purse that was made from the material from furnishings in the Palace.  Well, supposedly.  Regardless if that story is true or not, I like the purple coin purse.

The guys were hungry, not having eaten breakfast yet, and wanted to go to a nearby katsu place (read: fried food, not what Mom wants to eat), so she and I set out on foot then bus to go back to the babbling brook spot we found yesterday, to sit and enjoy the running creek sounds for a bit.  Google Maps did a good job of getting us there and we stopped at a vending machine and got a couple of cold drinks to enjoy while we sat.  She's really enjoying Pocari Sweat, which is the light Gatorade-type drink.  And I found the melon soda Kenji & I like so much.

We found the same spot and sat on the marble seats for a good while, enjoying the shade of the large patio-type umbrellas and from the trees.  It was almost cool.  When we finally decided it was time to get going, we wanted to see the area where the Geishas live and see if we could see any.  It's illegal to take any pictures of them, but we hoped to see one.  The street Google Maps led us to was  non-descript and had no one, except for a couple of tourists, walking around.  Well, shoot.  Oh well.  We decided we were a bit peckish and started looking for a place to eat.  We found a ramen shop and as a lady popped her head out and asked us in Japanese if we wanted to come eat (at least that's what I told myself she was saying) I whipped out my one good full on phrase "Eigo no menu wa arimasu ka?" (pronounced: eggo no menu ah-ree-mah-soo-kah) (meaning: do you have a menu in English?) and she happily handed me a picture menu with descriptions in English and prices.  We agreed and entered.

We agreed on sharing a ramen set (ramen, gyoza and rice) and when we tried to order that we were told each person has to order something.  This is not the first time we've been told that at a restaurant.  Mom wasn't overly hungry and didn't want a whole bowl of ramen, so we decided to try ordering her just a plate of gyozas.  That placated them.  We each had our own gyozas and we shared the ramen and rice.  It was a quaint little place, maybe 10 seats at the bar and 3 tables for 4 each.  The staff were all very friendly and it seemed to be a real Mom and Pop place, with family all working there, which is typical in Japan.  We enjoyed our meal, lingered and chatted and finally left.  I'd texted with Kenji and they were at the Nishi Temple, the main large temple associated with the temple in LA that his family has attended over the years, where is Grandpa was on the Board. The guys had walked in while they were having a service, so stayed to watch.  We decided to hop on a bus and meet them there.

After what felt like a really long bus ride and a short walk we arrived.  This place was enormous!  Kenji described this particular temple as the Vatican for his temple in LA and all Nishi's in the world.  He told us that when it was built it was the largest wooden structure in the world.  He and Mom took off their shoes and went to go inside.  My feet hurt so much and were so hot that I thought if I took off my shoes I might not get my feet back in them, so I sat on the steps outside.  They took a while to walk around, Mom and I got pictures of the temple and surrounding buildings and we decided it was time to finally leave and head back to pick up our bags and move to tonight's "hotel".  We're staying in Kyoto one more night, we're just moving to a ryoken (pronounced: rye-oh-ken) which is a traditional Japanese accommodation (read: tatami mats on the floor and futons to sleep on).

I was wiped out so I asked if we could take a taxi both from the temple to the hotel and from the hotel to the ryoken.  Neither were very far away, but I had had it.  Put a fork in me, I was done.  So we did just that and arrived at the ryoken.  While sitting at the temple I did a quick Google search and found that the ryoken did NOT have an elevator.  Yikes!  I think my suitcase weighs 30 pounds at least!  Luckily, though, Google did say they have a/c, so there was that to look forward to.  Leo had said he's carry my suitcase up to my room for me.  Sweet kid!  As we were checking in the manager mentioned to find the elevator around the corner.  Elevator?  Yay!  Especially since we were on the 4th floor.

We got our rooms and found a low table with "chairs" with no legs, the seat was on the floor, with a cushion on the seat.  No beds.  Yikes!  I hadn't considered that there wouldn't be a traditional (Western) place to sit.  They came to our rooms after we left for dinner and put out the futons, until then. chairs on the floor for us!  Mom and I couldn't figure out the remote so I called the front desk and a very nice woman came.  She kneeled on the tatami mats and showed us how to work the remote, admittedly after having to call the front desk on her headset as she couldn't figure it out either.  After getting instructions in her ear, she showed us how to work the remote and explained if we signed into Hulu or Netflix with our own accounts we could watch shows in English.  Nice!

Mom and I watch a little sumo wrestling then got ready to leave for dinner.  The guys knocked on our door and explained that Leo wasn't hungry and that he was going to walk back to the other hotel (maybe 15 mins) to look for a keychain he'd bought in Osaka that was hanging from his backpack when he left the room in the morning but was now missing.  He wondered if it had fallen off when they stored our bags.  So he went off and the 3 adults headed to go find dinner.  Kenji had suggested the mall at the train station again and I said if we did that then I could go get more of the socks I'd purchased the night before that I liked.  We walked and I was amazed at how close we were to the train station.  Kenji also pointed out the Skytree Tower and reminded me that there was a food court in the basement there.  After getting several more pair of wicking-away socks we looked at the food offerings at that mall and decided to go look at Skytree to see what was there.

It was only across the street, which was nice.  We took the escalator down and wandered around, looking at all the different restaurants and settled on a gyudon place (think: Yoshinoya Beef Bowl) but this place served it was sukiyaki (with sauce) and used Waygu!  Kenji & I ordered it with an egg yolk on top and we each got a lemon sour, the alcoholic Shochu drink we've had a few times so far.   Mom had beef bowl and water.  Kenji mentioned that there was a pancake place here somewhere that served Japanese pancakes, the kind that are like a souffle and jiggle.  I told him it was directly behind us and I wanted one for dessert, so when we were done we looked at the menu there and Mom said she wanted to try the mango drink, so I ordered the set (combo) of classic pancake and mango drink.  She was given her mango drink almost immediately, but my pancake took 10 minutes.  It was yummy, light and fluffy, served with whipped cream, a pat of butter and a small container of syrup.  Kenji & I shared it.

We stopped at 7/11 on the way back and got an ice cream for Leo and a couple of bananas for Mom & I in the AM.  I told Mom I wanted to try the onsen (pronounced: own-sen) at the ryoken and she agreed to try it with me.  We got dressed in the required yukata (long, light fabric robe tied with an elegant sash).  I wore the slippers provided but they were too big for Mom and she didn't feel safe in them, so she wore her own slip-ons.  We found our way down to the onsen, to the Women's side and got undressed and entered the onsen only to find on towels.  Doh!  We forgot the instructions said to bring our own from our room.  So we trudged back upstairs, got our towels and returned to the onsen.  We took a shower, as required, and walked in and sat down.  It's like a giant square hot tub that's only maybe 3 feet deep and you sit on the floor, so side seats.

There were a couple of other women there we found out were from Paris, a mother and daughter.  The daughter had been studying in Japan and wanted to show it to her mother.  They agreed the humidity is awful!  The onsen was too hot for Mom so she headed back to the room.  The French women also got out and a Japanese woman came in.  I sat enjoying the relaxation and soaking my feet and ankles.  Then I had a horrible realization.  Mom had the only room key!  While I could knock on the door to be let in, I couldn't get to the 4th floor without a key to swipe in the elevator!  I hurriedly got out, rinsed off and found the French women fishing getting their Yukata's on and I explained the situation.  They agreed to get me on the elevator, but their room was on 3 and would not let them push the button for 4, so I got off at the first floor and pled my case to the front desk staff.  After they verified my name and room # a man let me into the elevator and opened the door for me.  Phew!  Mom was surprised I was able to open the door  as she knew she had the only key and I explained I had to get the hotel staff to let me into the elevator, too.  Oh!  She'd forgotten about that part, too.

She was tired and crawled right into bed.  I had to run payroll for Foothill and crawled into bed soon after.

Yesterday (I didn't blog last night, I was too wiped out) was a day in search of beauty, away from the city's high rises.  Mom and I had seen bananas and apple slices at 7/11 the night before and intended to buy them in the AM, but when we got there, ALL the fresh fruit was gone!  Lesson learned, don't procrastinate on fresh fruit.  So we each got a bag of mandarins in juice, like canned fruit, but in a bag, and I also got peaches in a bag.  Mom got a hamburger and I got yogurt, pancakes and I finally got brave enough to try 7/11's smoothies.  It's a cup of frozen fruit and after you pay for it you take it to a machine, scan the bar code and put it inside the machine and close the door.  The machine pulls it further inside and punctures the foil top and adds liquid, water probably, then inserts a blending device of some sort and blends the whole darn thing!  And big bang boom, I had fresh fruit!  It was brilliant!  Seriously, the 7/11's in the US need an upgrade.

The guys were pokey puppies and we finally got out of the hotel about 11 am, headed for the Gion (pronounced; ghee-ohn) area of Kyoto, known for it's traditional single family homes and waterways lined with trees and moss.  I wanted Mom to see some beauty and see that the Japan from pictures, the old architecture, still exists.  We found it!  It was so lovely and peaceful, the sound of running water, she didn't want to leave. But, leave we did, headed for Nishiki Market, a nearby covered walkway/street filled with food stalls and little shops.  We walked and walked and took in all the sights and sounds and aromas.  I let everyone know that this was lunch, if you see something you want, but it then before we moved on.  At one point I stepped into a shop to look at the items and when I came out Kenji was there but Mom and Leo were gone.  We walked a bit then texted Leo and he said he'd walk back to us.  When he got back Mom wasn't with him.  Huh.  I wonder where she is in this mass of humanity.  I pulled out my phone and the tracking app.  Drat!  Darn thing hadn't updated her location in the last 2 hours!  Probably because her phone isn't "on" when we're out and about.  She's got it on airplane mode.  2 hours ago is probably when we left the hotel.  *face palm*

So we split up to go look for her.  After 5 mins Kenji texted that he'd found her up ahead.  Phew!  As we walked back towards each other I stopped and bought a delicious looking chicken thigh that looked like it had a light teriyaki sauce on it.  When the others joined me we stepped to the side to eat it (now walking while eating/drinking here, there are overhead announcements to that fact).  Mom wasn't hungry yet, the hamburger she had for breakfast was regular size and she'd eaten the whole thing.  Leo didn't want any so Kenji & I polished it off.  Oishi!  I turned right to go back into the market and no one else saw which direction I'd gone and they turned left to go back in.  We got separated again.  Kenji texted and asked where I was, that they had turned left.  I said I turned right and I'd come back to them.  I looked at all the yummy-ness as I went back and found a stall grilling fresh scallops.  If you know me at all you know that scallops are on my list of things to eat for a Last Meal. It was 2 on a skewer and they crushed them with garlic butter.  Oh my!  Yes, please!  But, then the rule of not walking while eating came into play and the women working the stall pointed to a few tables and chairs inside, so I obliged.  The scallops were not just the part of the mollusk that I'm accustomed to, but the whole piece of meat inside the shell.  I was not mad.  I ate the whole thing and loved it!

Back on my feet I worked my way back to the others who had told me they were near Wendy's.  Yes, Wendy's.  I had texted that I could go for a Frosty.  So when we re together again we went inside (ah, air conditioning!) and the other 3 decided they wanted to try the Truffle Bacon-ator, so Mom & I I got in line while the guys secured a table.  Ordering was electronic, on a screen, only.  I had a few false starts, but finally placed the burger order, then went searching for the Frosty.  What to my wandering eyes should appear, but NO Frosty!  What?!  Sacrilege!  You can't have Wendy's with a Frosty on the menu!  I was crestfallen.  So I settled for what was called a Cream Float but the picture looked like melon soda (I've already talked about that in an earlier blog, right?) with soft serve ice cream.  I'd ordered the meal so the whole shebang came with fries.  We all devoured it all (yes, the melon soda was the *right* melon soda) and Mom declared being disappointed with the Bacon-ator, as there wasn't a whole lot of truffle flavor.

We left Nishiki Market with plans to go to the Shrine in the area as there was a specific shot Kenji wanted to get, but not far out of the market my left heel started really bothering me.  I suspected a blister.  So Mom and I went back to the hotel, with the help of a very kind bus staff member at a bus stop telling me we were at the wrong stop for the bus back to the train station, then telling me where the right one was.  Kenji & Leo went on to the Shrine.  Back at the hotel, removing my sweat-soaked sock I found what I had suspected, a blister,  Bah humbug!  Well, we've been walking A LOT and my feet are a lot more sweaty than back home, so I'm not surprised.  We changed into dry clothes and relaxed on our beds for a while.  When the guys got back I went to soak my feet in hot water in the bathtub.  Mom and I had been watching sumu wrestling (yes, more wrestling, Erica!) and when it ended we got dressed to meet the guys to go get dinner.

The guys had a found a couple of options in the basement mall in front of the Kyoto train station.  We looked at the first one, a kastu place, but literally everything on the menu is fried.  Mom has nixed any more fried food for herself, so we moved on to look at the skewer place.  It looked good, so we took a number and waited to be called for a table.  After being seated we were directed to a QR code on the table and instructed to place our order there.  We perused the menu, made our choices and placed the order.  Shortly after our drinks arrived.  Mom had intended to ask for water, but when the server brought the Luster's 3 drinks she figured the 4th person would want water so she brought it along.  How nice!  Kenji and I each had a Shochu drink (another distilled alcoholic rice liquor) and Leo had a watery sweet milk drink that I don't remember the name of, but he liked it.

Mom got a 3 skewer set that came with chicken meatballs, chicken thigh meat and a 3rd skewer that had looked like beef but turned out to be liver.  Yuck!  She ate one piece and discovered it was liver and didn't eat anymore.  Leo had 5 skewers and discovered that his "beef" skewer was liver, too.  Blah!  I had a teriyaki chicken bento box and enjoyed it and the cabbage salad and miso soup that came with it.  Kenji had a karaage (pronounced: ka-raw-gay) bento.  Karaage is chunks of chicken that are breaded and deep fried.  He also had cabbage salad and soup. 

After dinner we wandered slowly around the mall, looking at clothes and housewares.  I found a sock store that had vented socks displayed in front.  I asked the woman working in the shop about sizes.  She had a piece of paper in English that explained the Japanese sizes for foreign tourists to know which size to buy based on what size they are used to in the home countries.  I purchased a pair and if they work well tomorrow I may go buy more before we leave Kyoto.  We returned to the hotel in light sprinkles.

As most of our packing was done last night, just a last few items needed to be tossed into our suitcases before being ready to go.  We were pleasantly surprised to have received 2 bottles of water for free each day, but only drank half of them, so into my suitcase the others went!  I bought a new suitcase for this trip, the kind with 4 wheels that spins in all directions, so the extra weight was not going to be an issue, especially since Kenji was kind enough to suggest getting a taxi rather than navigating the subway (and stairs!) to get to Osaka Train Station.

Mom and I picked up a little breakfast at the grocery store across the street of bananas, a pastry for me and we shared a tea sandwich type sandwich of ham, cheese and lettuce that we ate in our room as we finished our blogs.  We met the guys in the lobby, checked out and left our luggage with the front desk as we planned to get lunch before departing Osaka.  We can't check into the hotel in Kyoto until 3 pm, so rather than drag our luggage around Kyoto, we left it at the Osaka hotel and killed time going to get lunch.

I did research last night about affordable places to get shabu shabu (raw meat and veggies cooked in broth) for lunch.  I found a place not too far away and went down to the front desk and asked them to call and make a reservation for us.  The kind gentleman did and explained that the restaurant said they'd only hold the reservation for 15 minutes, so please don't be late.  We actually ended up there about 20 minutes early.  After following Google Maps' directions (a Godsend this trip, truly!) we found ourselves going into a small mall type shopping center and right to the door of the restaurant.  I went in and let them know who we were and they showed us to a table for 6 with circular cut-outs in front of each seat and a heating element at the bottom of the cut-out.

A very friendly woman explained the menu to us in very good English and we took our time perusing and deciding.  In the end Leo & I ordered the same thing, the premium beef loin, but he has a spicy broth and I chose the bonito (dried fish flakes) broth.  In hindsight, I wouldn't order that one again.  I thought it would be more flavorful than plain old vegetable broth, but I was dealing with the wet flakes the whole time (not wanting to eat them, which is ok to do, I just prefer not to).  Mom got the beef belly with vegetable broth and Kenji got the premium beef sukiyaki (pronounced: soo-kee-yah-kee).  His hot pot came with all his ingredients already in it with the sauce at the bottom.  He was asked to wait for 3 minutes before stirring it all together to eat.  The other 3 of us received a plate with 4 large, thin slices of beef along with a gorgeous arrangement of fresh, raw vegetables to sir into our broths and cook ever so momentarily before eating straight or dipping in one of the 2 sauces we each got to choose.  I found myself dipping meat or veggies in a sauce then dabbing it on my rice and then eating it, sometimes with a bite of rice.

It really was a fun and enjoyable meal!  And so healthy!  Mom has been craving more veggies here, and so have I, and this hit the spot!

We made our way back to the hotel, went potty, got our luggage, and Kenji arranged an Uber.  As we went outside to wait for the Uber, Mom realized she's left her hat in the hotel bathroom.  Run like the wind, Bullseye!  Gotta get back fast.  She was going to leave it and write it off but I encouraged her to go get it.  She did and got back before the Uber arrived.  Yay!  The drive to the train station was smooth and we were there in no time.  Finding the right track for our train to Kyoto was another story.

The train station in Osaka is nicknamed City XX because of how spread out it is, like a city unto itself.  After a couple of false starts we finally found the right platform and were even a few minutes early!  We got on and the guys very kindly offered to keep our suitcases with them as they stood behind our seats.  The ride was about 30 minutes long and when we arrived Kenji helped us find our hotel easily as it was only a 10 minute walk from the train station.

We checked in and were each given keys to our separate rooms.  When we opened our doors we were met with a shock!  The rooms are even smaller than the ones in Tokyo, and we thought *those* were small!  These are comically small.  There is nowhere to put a suitcase (let alone 2) and open them up.  My suitcase is on the floor pushed up against the door so there's room to get into the bathroom without stubbing a toe.  It's ok.  It's just 2 nights.

We took a couple of hours to cool down, change clothes and rest a little before heading out to find dinner.  When we met the guys the told us it was raining.  Doh!  We had our curtains closed and didn't see that.  Again.  We had intended to do a walkabout and survey our new neighborhood and find somewhere for dinner.  Instead we ducked into a place around the corner that we passed on our way in.  Italian.  Yup, we came to Kyoto Japan and had Italian food.  The restaurant has a small footprint but goes up 3 floors.  The kitchen is on the first floor, with the pizza oven, a bar and 1 large table in the corner on the 2nd floor and the majority of the tables on the 3rd floor.  We walked up 2 sets of narrow, winding stairs as we giggled about it.

We all shared a Caesar salad (remember, Mom wants veggies), and a half order of burrata, sliced cherry tomatoes and 4 basil leaves.  Mom and I shared a Margherita pizza, Kenji had carbonara (he has a thing for this dish when it's made right), and he gave this one an 8 out of 10, and Leo had duck pizza that had a balsamic drizzle and arugula on it.  He declared it good.  The restaurant has an honest-to-goodness authentic Italian wood-fired pizza oven.  I saw that as we walked by on our way to the hotel.  The crust was really good, although the toppings made the center a bit soggy.  But, it was all yummy!  

Kenji had a limoncello & soda (water) and a glass of red wine while I had a "Spritz" that was supposed to be an Aperol Spritz, I think, but using a knock-off Aperol, maybe, so they couldn't use the Aperol name?  I don't know.  Anyway, it was quite watery and Kenji said his limoncello drink was, too.  I pulled the tooth pick out of my drink with a dark colored something on the end of it and mused aloud wondering if it was an olive or a Luxardo cherry.  After finishing the drink I bit into the dark whatever it was a found it was indeed... a black olive!  Ohmygosh!  Say what???  Seriously???  I grabbed a napkin and spit it out, laughing at the absurdity of a black olive in such a drink.  I also had a glass of white wine.  The pours on the wine were skimpy, to be kind.  But, not expensive so, ok.

If there's panna cotta on a dessert menu, I have to get it.  I LOVE panna cotta They had one for 450 yen ($3.07).  Leo joke about how small it would be, and indeed, it was small.  Kenji had a couple of bites, Mom tried it and Leo declined.  All the more for me!  It had a lovely little berry coulis and a couple of blueberries on it.  Yum!

When we came out from dinner the rain had stopped so we took a stroll around to see where we are and what's around us.  We saw lots of very tall buildings and a couple of small buildings defiantly in their shadows, very reminiscent of the movie Up.  We walked into a Lawson as Leo said he hadn't been in one yet.  We found ourselves back at our hotel and went into the 7/11 next door to scope out the possibilities for breakfast, then back to our rooms and the a/c for the night at 8 pm.

We 4 had a late bakery breakfast together after Mom and I did some Wash Only laundry.  I had a bagel type bread roll with marinara and mozzarella on it.  I was looking forward to a warm pizza-type roll. as well as a chocolate/custard type pastry which would have been gorgeous heated.  Unfortunately for me, neither were heated.  *sigh*

We got a late start out of the hotel, knowing we only had one spot on our docket for today.  Nara.  Nara was the capital of Japan before Kyoto and Kyoto was the capital before Tokyo.  Thanks to the internet, Nara has become famous for the socialized deer in Nara Park.  In return for a special cracker you can purchase at the park, the deer will bow to you.  However, once the deer know you bought the crackers, the hound you, follow you, surround you and yes, even nip at you.  Ask me how I know.

From the train station we took a bus for about 5 mins (which would've easily been a 15 minute walk) to Nara park and immediately saw a LOT of deer!  Yes, we purchased a stack of crackers (made from rice bran and flour) for 300 yen ($2.00) and almost immediately I was surrounded by eager, hungry deer.  I wasn't fast enough in dispensing them and got my pants and shirt nipped at a couple of times enough that I felt it but it wasn't outright painful.  They were just telling me, hey lady, hand over the crackers and nobody gets seriously hurt.  LOL.  I found, though, that I could stick the crackers in my bag and they didn't know I had them.  I could show them empty hands and they left me alone.  Mom fed the deer, Leo fed the deer and Kenji fed the deer.  They bowed to each of us.  We got to pet them, too.  Their fur felt coarse, like horse hair.  I could feel their spines.  We had a lot of fun spending time with them, but after 1 stack of crackers and getting nipped at a couple of times, we were done.

From Nara park we took a bus to Todai-ji Daibutsuden (pronounced: toe-dye-gee die-buht-soo-den) which is the location of the Great Buddha statue, the world's largest bronze Buddha.  Seated, it is more than 49 feet tall.  The Great Hall in which it resides is a magnificently large structure. Several times throughout it's history the building has been destroyed by fire.  The current structure built entirely of wood, dates back to 1709.  There are 4 statues guarding the Great Buddha.  They each face a different direction, guarding the Great Buddha from possible attackers coming from any direction.

We spent probably an hour walking around the Great Buddha, taking it in from all angles and all the others guarding him.  At one spot I saw, and heard, a commotion and giggles.  I went to see what was going on and saw children and small teenagers crawling through a tight tunnel carved in the base of one of the enormous posts holding the Great Hall up.  Some folks had to be pulled through by friends while small children wriggled through easily.  Not quite the activity I would've expected to see in this sacred space, but people were having fun with it. 

I found a spot to sit and wait for the others that had slats in the wall open to the outside and there was a wonderfully cool breeze.  I was in heaven!  I sat about 2 minutes before a staff member came and told me I wasn't allowed to sit there.  That seems to be a recurring theme in Japan.  Anywhere I find a spot to sit, I'm shoo'd away.  It happened a few times at the Expo, too, with an explanation of "Staff Chair!"  I think they want visitors to just keep moving and not get comfortable.  Which is unfortunate because I was enjoying the angle I had on Buddha *and* the breeze at the same time.  *sigh*

Near the exit there was a place where folks who had previously purchased "Stamp passports" could get the stamps (not postal type stamps, but rather ink pad-type stamps) "signed" by an official with what looked like paint and a paint brush, using typical Japanese strokes over the stamp.  It was quite beautiful.  In that same area were items for sale such as Buddhist prayer beads and charms that were labeled for specific desires such as good health, long life and good business.

We began our exit from the Great Hall and out of the compound.  As with any good Disney attraction, there was a gift shop on the way out.  LOL.  I've been able to resist all the tchotchkes so far on this trip, but I saw a cute little deer plushie and a Nara magnet.  Then I saw some beautiful porcelain sake cups.  They are all coming home with me.  Then we passes 2 or 3 more counters and I saw a better deer plushie.  *face palm*  Oh well.  Live and learn.

As we walked back towards the bus we encountered more deer along the path who were eager to know if we had crackers for them.  We did not.  We crossed paths with a sweet Mama and her baby.  We sat down at what we thought was the bus stop as it was where we had gotten off the bus.  I opened Google Translate and typed "Does the bus go to the train station?" so that I'd have it ready when the bus came.  When the bus pulled up and away from where we were sitting I hurried over and showed my question to the attendant and he said nei (no).  He then told me to go around the building and turn right then right again to get the bus to the train station.  We did so and found it easily.  After a short wait we got on the bus and passed the deer in Nara Park and were back at the train station.  Since Nara is the final stop on this line, there was a train waiting when we got to the platform.  We got on and were grateful for seats!

Kenji suggested that since we hadn't had lunch yet (breakfast was late) that we stop at the Osaka train station where we'd have to change to the subway and find a place to sit down for dinner.  That sounded much nicer than something from 7/11.  Hai, kudasai (kuh-de-sigh)  (Yes, please)!  There was already a pitcher of ice water on the table and the server brought us each a cup of ice water.  Nice!  We pursued the menu (which she was kind enough to provide in English) finally settling each on on something different. She had earlier indicated that there was a button on the table that we were to push when we were ready to order and she would come back.  Unfortunately, the items Kenji & wanted were sold out.  He tried to order something else and it was explained that ALL items including any kind of fried chicken was sold out.  Drats.  He ended up ordering spicy dan dan noodles, which he declared not as spicy as the spicy ramen from our local ramen shop.  I had regular old ramen and Mom had similar, but hers was "Plenty of Vegetables" ramen, since she's been missing produce while we've been here.  Leo got a chicken stir fry that came with soup and rice.  We were all satisfied and ready to get back on the subway for our last leg of the day's trip.

Mom & I wanted to stop at 7/11 and pick up another single serve bottle of wine for each of us for the evening.  Kenji tagged along and found a drink and pudding cup.  Leo went ahead on to the hotel, which is literally around the corner.  The matters of beginning to prepare to leave tomorrow (Sunday) to move to Kyoto brought us to do more laundry, but there was only 1 machine available, so by the time Kenji's & my laundry was done and dried for a 2nd time there wasn't time left to do Leo's, so I offered to start it early in the AM when I woke up.

Off to sleep and my ankle pain kept me awake far longer than I would've liked, despite the ibuprofen.  Typing this now on Sunday AM as we are in final prep to leave the hotel in a half hour and go get lunch in Osaka to kill time before getting on the subway then train to Kyoto, since we can't check in to the hotel there til 3 pm.

A Journey for Food

I forgot to mention which pavilions we actually got into at Expo yesterday.  Between the 4 of us at least 1 person went through: Malaysia, Commons, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates.  That's it.  7 out of 66.

My morning started as usual so far in Osaka, a little computer work for work back home while Mom slept.  Kenji had a 7 am (Japan time) work call, so he went down to the lobby so as not to wake Leo.  On his way out of the dark room he picked up what he thought was a room key but was in fact Leo's Suica card!  Oops!  He texted me to let me know and as soon as Leo let me know he was awake I went and got Kenji's key to take to him downstairs and found him having just finished his call.  Good timing!  We all took showers then met downstairs for breakfast at our yummy bakery!

Today's plan was to go to Kobe.  Kobe is the home of high quality, expensive beef.  Is that why we went?  No.  Kobe is where the 6.9 earthquake took place on Jan. 17, 1995.  Is that why we went?  No.  Kobe is the home of the nation's #1 port.  Is that why we went?  No.  The single reason Kobe was put on the calendar as a place to visit was... are you ready?  Jesus Pizza.  You read that right.  There's a pizza place in town that Leo wanted to go to called Jesus Pizza.  A Japanese man went to New York City and had their pizza and thought he wanted to make it his life's mission to bring NY style pizza to Japan.  So he did.  He opened a small little 8 seat place in Kobe.

Leo led us through the streets, past a shrine, up a hill and around a corner, across from a Halal kebab restaurant to Jesus Pizza.  *face palm*  He was so happy!  We took the requisite pictures and went inside.  We greeted the proprietor in Japanese and asked if he spoke English.  In better English than my Japanese, and a twinkle in his eye, he said "No, no English, only Japanese".  We giggled and knew we had found a fun person.  Leo ordered a slice of pepperoni and the house specialty, Honey B, which we learned stands for bacon.  Kenji and Mom each had a slice of Honey B and I had Honey B envy after I tasted it as I ordered plain old cheese.  I had a ginger ale that so cold and sparkling, it hit the spot!

We lingered and looked at all the pictures on the wall from NYC.  I got up at one point and asked for water in my ginger ale glass when it was empty and inquired if he sells shirts like the one he was wearing, knowing Leo would love to have one.  Unfortunately, he has no merch for sale.  He did have a box of free comic books (I think that's what it was) so I took one and gave it to Leo.  We took our time walking back, stopping along the way at the Shrine, paying our respects and expressing gratitude for our gifts.

We walked past the train station to an outdoor shopping area and decided we'd like to see the Earthquake Memorial, but it was a 20 minute walk.  I asked if we could take a taxi and Kenji ordered one.  We were there in a matter of a few minutes.  The Memorial included part of the port that was destroyed in 1995 and was left the way it was after the earthquake to show the magnitude of the destruction.  It was difficult to see and imagine what that day must've been like.  It was exactly, to the day, 1 year after the Northridge earthquake back home, which was a 6.7, so a similar-ish magnitude.

We read plaques about the 6,400+ people who died that day, in addition to the 43,000 who were injured and left more than 300,000 residents displaced.  It was sobering.  We had talked about going to Chinatown.  We had talked about finding a street food vendor and getting a taste of Kobe beef on a stick, which is about all we could afford of Kobe beef, but in the end the humidity took it's toll once again.  We got a taxi back to the train station and came back to the hotel.

Ok, so we *did* pay homage to the earthquake victims and saw the port.  But, those weren't the reasons we went to Kobe.  Those were filler activities.  But, I never got the beef on a stick I wanted.  In the moment I wanted a/c more.  After a rest we changed clothes and got ready to go to Dotonbori.  The guys came to our room to discuss the evening and told us it was raining.  Hard.  Oh no!  We had our sheer curtains drawn and hadn't seen that!  We decided to go anyway, as rain is predicted for tomorrow night, too.  By the time we got to Dotonbori, the rain was just sprinkles.  Yay!

Dotonbori is a hotspot for tourists and locals alike.  It is lined with neon signs, clubs, bars and restaurants serving local specialties, both inside and street-side, with street food being the thing to eat there.  We took the requisite pictures of the man-eating crab (Kenji's description of the huge crab on the wall atop a restaurant) as well as the "Glico Running Man".  The Glico Running Man is one of the most well known landmarks in Osaka.  The huge, brightly lit sign has glowed over Dotonbori for more than 80 years.  Dating back to 1935, it has been refurbished several times.  It advertises Glico, makers of Pocky, the sweet confection coated usually in chocolate.

The restaurant hawkers were out in force, with large copies of their menus and pictures of what they serve, to tantalize the revelers.  In the end we purchased a crab bao bun (only Leo and I tried that), gyozas and a couple of chicken yakitori (Kenji & Mom).  Mom and I were feeling like we didn't want to walk around anymore, that we needed something cold, so we headed into the nearby Family Mart where she got a waffle ice cream sandwich and I got my favorite grapefruit/grape drink.  And we headed back to the room.

The guys weren't far behind us in departing for the hotel.  Baseball once again captured our attention on TV as the Kobe Tigers were now playing the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Yes, *that* Yakult.

I slept very well last night, almost 8 hours!  Here's hoping for more of the same tonight.

A Journey to Visit the World

Yesterday (I didn't blog before going to bed last night, you'll see why) was a f*ck of a day.  I knew it was going to be rough, I just didn't anticipate *how* rough.  It started out normally enough, breakfast for all 4 of us together (a rarity this trip) at the bakery downstairs.  I got the ricotta and blistered tomatoes toast and what I read online is the best thing they have, Honey Toast.  It was a really thick piece of bread that seemed to have been soaked in a thinned honey syrup and then gridled.  The outside was hard like candy.  It was hard to cut and crackled with each bite.  It was yummy, but I think I'd like to try something else next time.

Before breakfast I had started a couple of loads of laundry and went to switch them.  We waited for laundry to be done before embarking on our day to the Osaka World Expo 2025.  We took 2 subway trains to get there and the 2nd one had it's final stop at the Expo.  The Expo is on a man-made island.  The island itself was built to house the Expo.  It was an engineering feat!  Kenji says they've been working on this for 10 years  After getting off the train we had a 15 minute walk to get to the front gate.  There was a huge area in front set up to handle enormous crowds with queueing lines all arranged for the back and forth of crowds.  When I handed my bag to Security for a bag check, I was asked if I had any drinks.  I said yes and he asked me to remove them.  I pulled out a bottle of water and a Diet Coke and he put one at a time in a plastic ring and pushed a button to determine the contents of my bottle.  How innovative!  I didn't have to lose my drinks and they were satisfied I wasn't going to blow the place up! Disney needs these things.

So what is the Osaka Expo?  Think World's Fair.  There were pavilions sponsored by countries, showcasing what's there and what the country is about and why they're each awesome and why you should go to their country to visit.  Some pavilions were huge for a single country, like Malaysia, the first pavilion we went into.  It was a 2 story pavilion!  They had exhibits like in a museum, with video explanations of what we were looking at as well as an enormous ceiling to floor Tree of Harmony made from bamboo and rattan.  Other pavilions shared the enormous hall and each country had a booth of sorts, that could be walked into to view a few posters and maybe a small display.  Such was the case with the second pavilion we went into, The Commons, which was filled with booths from countries of the Commonwealth of Britain.  The guys had gone ahead of Mom & I, having finished Malaysia before we did.  When Mom & I walked into the Commons we took an immediate right and she walked into the first booth, I forget which one it was, and spent a good 5 minutes in there.  Then she walked into the next booth.  Good Lord, she's going to go into every single one here, isn't she???  And there was nowhere for me to sit and wait.  There was nowhere to sit inside any of the pavilions.  *face palm*  While Mom was in the 2nd booth Kenji texted and told me they had found the Sri Lanka booth in the back, so when Mom came out I told her that, hoping to nudge her along.  It worked to an extent that she didn't then go into every booth along the way.

Of course, we went into the Sri Lanka booth.  They had posters on the walls about fun things to do in Sri Lanka and a tea display as you exited.  We wandered around the rest of The Commons and went to sit outside.  In the sun.  There's very little shade at the Expo.  And it was the hottest day of the year so far.  Because of course it was for the day we went.  Just our luck.  We tried to find the guys and I sat down at a group of tables near a could of food stalls to check my Google Maps of where they were and Mom got interested in the Azerbaijan pavilion and went to see it.  That was fine.  I was overheating and needed a rest and time to drink some water.  Kenji found me and I got a curry rice bowl to eat.  Mom came back with a tale of how she had waited 20 minutes to get into Azerbaijan, but she had thoroughly enjoyed it. And that began the tale of the rest of the day.  LONG lines to get into pavilions, *if* you could get in at all.  A lot of the more popular pavilions (read: popular countries - Japan, USA, France, etc.) had a reservation requirement AND reservations had to have been obtained well in advance of your visit AND were only available via a lottery system so as to be fair to everyone.  Ok, I get that part, but lotteries are common in Japan for popular events BUT they are convoluted and not well explained for tourists who don't use the system.

We didn't enter the lottery system so we had no reservations for any pavilions.  We knew that and the plan was to go into the less popular pavilions and perhaps wait until evening to get into the popular ones, when the crowds die down, we thought.  Walking around the Ring Mom found Turkey with a short line and wanted to go in, so Kenji and I found an indoor restaurant where we sat down and got a Mango Shave Ice to share while we waited for Mom.  She joined us after touring Turkey and Leo joined us shortly after he had been through the Indonesia pavilion.  And then the skies opened up (we'd been hearing bug thunder booms for awhile) so we stayed put inside where we had seats and there was a/c.  We got some food to nibble on, so we could justify holding the table and stools. We got some fried gyoza, tempura that turned out to just be 2 pieces of shrimp and 2 pieces of chicken, and some edamame for Mom.  We watched on Kenji's phone the weather forecast for how long the rain would last and the guys decided to share a bowl of katsu curry udon (breaded & fried chicken cutlet in a curry sauce over thick noodles) and Mom and I went to see where else we could get into.  We thought we went the right direction for Germany, but we were wrong.  We passed many other pavilions with long lines to get in and turned around to head for Germany where Kenji was waiting for us.  Leo had decided to head back to the hotel.

We found Kenji and walked past other pavilions with long lines.  Germany's line was 90 minutes long! Mom said no, she's been to Germany and didn't want to wait that long.  We were able to walk right into United Arab Emirates and enjoyed what they were showing.  One display I saw showed how different the sand is in different parts of the country.  I needed a sit down and rest at this point and have some water so Mom and Kenji went on.  When I got back up again there was an announcement that the top of the Ring was being reopened after the storm.  I wanted to go up there so I texted Kenji to let him know.  He and Mom had gone into the Vietnam pavilion.  I got int he very long line for the escalator ride up to the top.  The Ring is a huge wooden structure built around the pavilions. It is more than 65 feet tall, more than 98 feet wide and more than a mile around.  There are no nails in it.  It's an engineering feat and quite a thing to see.  I can say with certainty that it was the highlight of the day for me.  The views from up top were grand!  As I took the elevator down Mom and Kenji were getting on to go up, so I sat and waited for them to come back down.

We walked some more and continued to find long lines everywhere.  We were discouraged and talked about how it was disheartening to come all this way just to not be able to get into more pavilions, that the lottery system, while trying to be fair, excluded visitors unfamiliar with it.  We hadn't found any maps of the Expo to see what was where so we could seek out specific pavilions or find what other exhibits were there.  We made the sad decision to leave as we were frustrated and didn't think we'd be able to get anything more accomplished.  We saw an Info booth on the way out and stopped to see if they had a map of the Expo!  They did!  They were the only place that did AND they were selling them for 200 yen (about $1.50).  Really?  Selling the maps???  *groan*  Mom bought us each one.  We wished there had been a sign as we came in at the start of the day, pointing to the Info Booth saying "Maps this way!", we would've bought one at the beginning of the day.  *sigh*

As we made our way out we were treated to a beautiful sunset along our 15 minute walk back to the subway.  2 trains and 30 mins later we were back and a quick stop at 7/11 for evening provisions and were back in our rooms.  I got a fruit sandwich, finally, which had sliced strawberries, peaches and pineapple set in a bed of whipped cream on white bread.  This is a delicacy that has to be tried to be appreciated.  It's a 7/11 staple and I hadn't spotted one yet, as they are popular.  I snagged it along with what was described as a Pork Ham with Cucumber sandwich, but as I bit into it I discovered they slipped wasabi in the cream cheese spread. Yowza!  There were 3 halves to the sandwich and I powered through 2 of them cuz I was hungry, but gave the 3rd half (how does *that* work?) to the guys.  Leo didn't like it after 1 bite, so Kenji finished it.  I also shared the 2nd half of my fruit sandwich with them.

Mom and I watched another baseball game between the Carps and the Tigers and once again the Tigers won.  I'm sorry, Erica.  Mom and I were both too exhausted to blog last night.  I took ibuprofen and my muscle relaxer to knock me out so my feet and ankles wouldn't keep me awake.  I was asleep by 10 pm.

They can't all be winners.