Days 6, 7, and 8
So yeah, I clearly didn't manage to update before I left, and was honestly too exhausted yesterday when we got back to do anything. Sorry for the wait!!
Day 6, April 29th, the first Golden Week Holiday:
What an amazing day. I woke up really early and chatted with people until Ash woke up. Then we had our remaining cake for breakfast - caramel and coffee mousse wrapped in a super-thin layer or chocolate (I think) sponge cake. It was awesome. Then, while I got dressed and had a bowl of Bran Flakes (that are somehow different from the ones at home), Ash ran and got her laptop from school, because it came back from the shop and the wireless card is still dead. So when she got back she spent a while talking to the repair guy, and I plowed through the rest of my translation. It's FINISHED. Well, a draft version is, anyway. Hooray! I'm sure there are lots of errors, but it's done now. ^______^
Once Ash was finished dealing with the repair guy, we headed out to Arashiyama, to visit the Okochi Sanso Villa, the estate of actor Okochi Denjiro, who did a lot of famous samurai films. The gardens were the real draw to visit. On the way there we stopped at Gust, a family restaurant, for lunch and had hamburger steaks filled with Camembert cheese. SO GOOD. ^^ Then we continued on towards Arashiyama. At one point when we were changing trains, the doors closed just as we got onto the platform. So we went into the shopping center connected to the station and poked for a while, missing the train after that one, and getting the next. But the delay was worth it, as I got a cute dress and a scarf, and a skirt that Ash bought hoping it would fit, but it didn't. The delay was also useful because the crowds were starting to thin out by the time we actually got to Arashiyama. Not to say that there weren't a lot of people, because there were, but it was tolerable. We took our time wandering towards the willa, got ice cream cones with four layers - cherry, black tea, green tea, and vanilla. Apparently I am not a fan of tea-flavored ice cream. Once we got to the villa, it was amazing It's set up on the hillside looking out over Kyoto, and it's just beautiful. The path is all done in rough stones, so it feels very natural even though it's highly deliberate. I took a ton of pictures here, until camera's batteries died. ;.; Thankfully we were nearly all the way through when that happened.
After the villa, we made our way back to the train statio, stopping at a shop along the way for some more gifts/fun things. Then we headed back into Kyoto itself, and met up with Ash's friend and fellow JET (although she teaches at a different school) Emily. We went to see theh new Conan movie, which was amazing! Even though I could only understand about 5% of what was said. Of note, movie tickets cost EVEN MORE in Japan than they do in Newfoundland. A college student rate ticket was 1500 Yen, so about $15. Ew. But it was totally worth it for the movie. I enjoyed it sooooo much. I look forward to it showing up with subtitles, so I can watch it again and understand what they're saying. Once the movie was over, we went to T.G.I. Friday's for supper, in honor of Ash's birthday. I had a Chicken Finger BLT, which was tasty. Then we headed back here and pretty much just fell asleep. A very full day!
Day 7:
Friday was a pretty quiet day, really. I was pretty tired, so I didn't do much. Did the dishes again, had a shower, decided what I'd bring to Tokyo with me and laid it all out. Went to the ATM in the Post Office and got some money, then picked up batteries for the camera. For supper, Ash cooked some rice, then threw in a couple of eggs and let it cook a bit longer. We chopped up some leek and threw that and the reheated sukiyaki meat leftovers on top. Very tasty! Easy, too. Then we packed everything up and headed out to get the bus. THERE was an interesting experience. It would have been great except that when the bus stopped in Kyoto for more passengers, a woman and her two young children took the seats behind Ash and I. Both of the kids had a fondness for kicking seats, joy of joys. The younger of the two was spending the trip on the mother's lap, and of course she was sitting behind me, so I couldn't recline my seat all the way back, which was annoying. I didn't sleep quite as well after that, but well enough.
Day 8:
We pulled into Tokyo about 7:30 on Saturday. We walked to Tokyo Station, which was only a minute or two away, and put everything we didn't need for the day into the suitcase and stashed it in a coin locker. [Oh how I love coin lockers.] Then we made our way to Odaiba~ It's an awesome bit of Tokyo. We started the day in Rainbow Park, "playing" basketball...aka shooting hoops back and forth. This was especially amusing for me because I was wearing my white skirt and my shoes. <.< hehe. At 9:30 we headed fr Palette Town, to ride the giant ferris wheel. We got in one of their all-glass compartments, and it was really cool~ I am officially a ferris wheel fan. After that, we headed for the grocery store to stock up for our picnic, and stock up we did! We got tempura veggies, katsu, some beef thing, tuna sashimi, drinks, pocky, cookies, macadamia chocolates, Camembert and black pepper cheeses...it was fantastic lunch. We walked out to the tip of one of the daibas (batteries), set down our blanket, and tucked in. Then I think I fell asleep for a while. <.< We'd put on sunscreen, but given that I was wearing over-the-knee socks and a below-the-knee skirt, I didn't put any on my knees. ^^; They got a bit burnt, as did my face. (That I DID put sunscreen on...just not enough, I guess.) It was REALLY sunny. Gonna be more careful for the rest of the trip. After that we lazed around a bit more then explored the Daiba itself as we walked back down, and headed to Aqua City, one of the three main shopping centers, to visit the shrine that's there. Yup, a shirne on the roof of the mall. XD It was really cool. We also went into tutuanna, and I bought some awesome socks. XDD They're very cute. Then we met up with Ash's friend Mitsu, who tagged along and carried the suitcase while we went to check into the ryokan. Once we had, we stopped for a minute in our room and the three of us had tea and the white-chocolate covered cookie-cake-biscuit things that Mitsu had brought. He also brought a little Mr. Saturn keychain plush for me, which was very sweet of him. ^^
Then we headed out to LaQua, a mall by Tokyo Dome, home of the Tokyo Giants baseball team. There's another ferris wheel there, so Mitsu treated us for Ash's birthday. Then it was off to the onsen there, which was nice, although not one of my favorites, then we grabbed supper at "Jonathan's". I had chicken pasta, before we rushed to the train station so Mitsu could miss the train he needed to be on. ^^; He refused to run ahead of us, and is possibly worse at running than I am. Ash and I headed back to the ryokan and fell into bed. A very good night's sleep!
I'll try to get the last few days typed up tomorrow!
Day 6, April 29th, the first Golden Week Holiday:
What an amazing day. I woke up really early and chatted with people until Ash woke up. Then we had our remaining cake for breakfast - caramel and coffee mousse wrapped in a super-thin layer or chocolate (I think) sponge cake. It was awesome. Then, while I got dressed and had a bowl of Bran Flakes (that are somehow different from the ones at home), Ash ran and got her laptop from school, because it came back from the shop and the wireless card is still dead. So when she got back she spent a while talking to the repair guy, and I plowed through the rest of my translation. It's FINISHED. Well, a draft version is, anyway. Hooray! I'm sure there are lots of errors, but it's done now. ^______^
Once Ash was finished dealing with the repair guy, we headed out to Arashiyama, to visit the Okochi Sanso Villa, the estate of actor Okochi Denjiro, who did a lot of famous samurai films. The gardens were the real draw to visit. On the way there we stopped at Gust, a family restaurant, for lunch and had hamburger steaks filled with Camembert cheese. SO GOOD. ^^ Then we continued on towards Arashiyama. At one point when we were changing trains, the doors closed just as we got onto the platform. So we went into the shopping center connected to the station and poked for a while, missing the train after that one, and getting the next. But the delay was worth it, as I got a cute dress and a scarf, and a skirt that Ash bought hoping it would fit, but it didn't. The delay was also useful because the crowds were starting to thin out by the time we actually got to Arashiyama. Not to say that there weren't a lot of people, because there were, but it was tolerable. We took our time wandering towards the willa, got ice cream cones with four layers - cherry, black tea, green tea, and vanilla. Apparently I am not a fan of tea-flavored ice cream. Once we got to the villa, it was amazing It's set up on the hillside looking out over Kyoto, and it's just beautiful. The path is all done in rough stones, so it feels very natural even though it's highly deliberate. I took a ton of pictures here, until camera's batteries died. ;.; Thankfully we were nearly all the way through when that happened.
After the villa, we made our way back to the train statio, stopping at a shop along the way for some more gifts/fun things. Then we headed back into Kyoto itself, and met up with Ash's friend and fellow JET (although she teaches at a different school) Emily. We went to see theh new Conan movie, which was amazing! Even though I could only understand about 5% of what was said. Of note, movie tickets cost EVEN MORE in Japan than they do in Newfoundland. A college student rate ticket was 1500 Yen, so about $15. Ew. But it was totally worth it for the movie. I enjoyed it sooooo much. I look forward to it showing up with subtitles, so I can watch it again and understand what they're saying. Once the movie was over, we went to T.G.I. Friday's for supper, in honor of Ash's birthday. I had a Chicken Finger BLT, which was tasty. Then we headed back here and pretty much just fell asleep. A very full day!
Day 7:
Friday was a pretty quiet day, really. I was pretty tired, so I didn't do much. Did the dishes again, had a shower, decided what I'd bring to Tokyo with me and laid it all out. Went to the ATM in the Post Office and got some money, then picked up batteries for the camera. For supper, Ash cooked some rice, then threw in a couple of eggs and let it cook a bit longer. We chopped up some leek and threw that and the reheated sukiyaki meat leftovers on top. Very tasty! Easy, too. Then we packed everything up and headed out to get the bus. THERE was an interesting experience. It would have been great except that when the bus stopped in Kyoto for more passengers, a woman and her two young children took the seats behind Ash and I. Both of the kids had a fondness for kicking seats, joy of joys. The younger of the two was spending the trip on the mother's lap, and of course she was sitting behind me, so I couldn't recline my seat all the way back, which was annoying. I didn't sleep quite as well after that, but well enough.
Day 8:
We pulled into Tokyo about 7:30 on Saturday. We walked to Tokyo Station, which was only a minute or two away, and put everything we didn't need for the day into the suitcase and stashed it in a coin locker. [Oh how I love coin lockers.] Then we made our way to Odaiba~ It's an awesome bit of Tokyo. We started the day in Rainbow Park, "playing" basketball...aka shooting hoops back and forth. This was especially amusing for me because I was wearing my white skirt and my shoes. <.< hehe. At 9:30 we headed fr Palette Town, to ride the giant ferris wheel. We got in one of their all-glass compartments, and it was really cool~ I am officially a ferris wheel fan. After that, we headed for the grocery store to stock up for our picnic, and stock up we did! We got tempura veggies, katsu, some beef thing, tuna sashimi, drinks, pocky, cookies, macadamia chocolates, Camembert and black pepper cheeses...it was fantastic lunch. We walked out to the tip of one of the daibas (batteries), set down our blanket, and tucked in. Then I think I fell asleep for a while. <.< We'd put on sunscreen, but given that I was wearing over-the-knee socks and a below-the-knee skirt, I didn't put any on my knees. ^^; They got a bit burnt, as did my face. (That I DID put sunscreen on...just not enough, I guess.) It was REALLY sunny. Gonna be more careful for the rest of the trip. After that we lazed around a bit more then explored the Daiba itself as we walked back down, and headed to Aqua City, one of the three main shopping centers, to visit the shrine that's there. Yup, a shirne on the roof of the mall. XD It was really cool. We also went into tutuanna, and I bought some awesome socks. XDD They're very cute. Then we met up with Ash's friend Mitsu, who tagged along and carried the suitcase while we went to check into the ryokan. Once we had, we stopped for a minute in our room and the three of us had tea and the white-chocolate covered cookie-cake-biscuit things that Mitsu had brought. He also brought a little Mr. Saturn keychain plush for me, which was very sweet of him. ^^
Then we headed out to LaQua, a mall by Tokyo Dome, home of the Tokyo Giants baseball team. There's another ferris wheel there, so Mitsu treated us for Ash's birthday. Then it was off to the onsen there, which was nice, although not one of my favorites, then we grabbed supper at "Jonathan's". I had chicken pasta, before we rushed to the train station so Mitsu could miss the train he needed to be on. ^^; He refused to run ahead of us, and is possibly worse at running than I am. Ash and I headed back to the ryokan and fell into bed. A very good night's sleep!
I'll try to get the last few days typed up tomorrow!