Japan day 3: Tokyo -> Kyoto

     Hmmm... so much for going to bed late and getting up late, I'm tied to the sun. 5:30am. Ok, doesn't matter. I get up and put most of the clothes we washed on a drying rack while waiting for 7am bakery opening. Bailley got up before 7 as well, so it's not just me. At 7 I walk to a local bakery and grab just a few things for everyone to share. So scrumptious. 

    We all get ready and do a light sub-packing-pack using just our backpacks for our 2-3 days in Kyoto. Walk, a couple of metro lines, and we're in Tokyo station. Whoa Nellie, this is a big station. And to make it feel even larger, it's attached to a mall? Multiple malls? We explore a bit and then everyone goes and gets a drink and some food for the train. Most Japanese trains and metros we were told not to eat or drink, but the Shinkansen (bullet train) is fine. Oh, speaking of rules on the metro, there's no talking, no phone conversations, no nothing... just amazing silence. After we get food and just chill a minute, we make our way to the Shinkansen area. The entrance turnstiles are different, so we watch a minute... ok... scan train QR code then tap Suica... boom... we got this. Well, not so much. We got in line for help and the person evidently had to do special scanning and the Suica taps to let us through, but we made it.

    This is our train pulling up. The thing to notice is all the blue uniformed people are each exit/entrance to the train. They are cleaners. They attacked that train like it's the SWAT olympics. Cleanliness in general in this country is no joke.

    Got a short glimpse or the very top of Mt. Fuji! It's supposed to rain on the return trip, so I think this was our best shot.

    Made it to Kyoto station and then grabbed a taxi to the Ryokan.

    The person who showed us to our room also showed us how to use the tea set and how to dress properly in our kimonos. 

    She also would come back and make matcha for us. After the matcha, we just explored the grounds a little and chilled. Later they came and escorted us to dinner. Wow, we had such a great time... so much food and very very good. 

    Then the girls went to the onsen and I went back to start resting up for tomorrow.

    

Japan day 2

     Up at 4:30am again, but back to sleep a few hours. Finally out to get breakfast to bring back and eat. Not a lot open, but we are successful.

    We get ready and go to Meiji Jingu shrine. Lots of walking but, just so beautiful... naturally and the shrine itself. We did the washing after entering, made a wish, and even went to the altar for a prayer. 

    We walked around through the garden area until almost 11am. Nice... right outside was a metro station, so we hopped on going to EDW Yellow. We exit the metro, pop up, huh... we're in the Shibuya scramble... in fact we did the scramble! A short walk to EDW Yellow and a line. However, it moved faster than expected and soon we were sitting down.

    The omurice was great, but I think maybe the French toast we split stole the show.

    After that, we split up, with the girls exploring and shopping, and me headed back to rest a bit. We all finally convened at the airBnB and all got some rest. Hopefully enough to do more things at night and hopefully sleep past 4am. 

    We took the metro to Shinjuku station and explored from there. Shinjuku is probably what everyone thinks of when thinking of Tokyo, lot's of big buildings and neon are far as you can see. It's also the home of Tokyo's red light district, but very conspicuous and discreet compared to other places. We finally made it to stop one: the Godzilla head! Very cool. Even got to see the last animated roar for the night.   

    After that we took a short walk to Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane). A famous alley of small restaurants and bars. We eat, drink, chat, and laugh (and drink more). 

    Then we all made our way back to the rental. Hey, finally out past 10:30pm... look at us!

Japan day 1

     I work up at 4:47 this morning... weird... it's light outside. Sunrise is at 4:27am... wowza. I finally go back to sleep, but everyone is starting to get up pretty early. I'm not sure if it's due to it being Sunday, or if it's just normally like this, but not a whole lot is open before 10:00am. That's ok, we get in another of our "must do's"... a short walk to buy food and drinks from a 7/11. Very tasty that first 7/11 egg salad sandwich. It has the hype for good reason. 

    We all clean up a bit, dress, and look at how best to get to the MORI digital art exhibit, teamLab. Turns out, a taxi was waaaay quicker and not too expensive. A bit of a fun walk/wait due to all the one way streets around the apartment, ie. the taxi can't easily get anywhere. But in the end, we found each other. A nice ride to the museum. We were early and it's inside a huge plaza, so we did some exploring and found a great coffee shop and grabbed some drinks and snacks. 

    Ok, close to time so we walk and enter the exhibit. Wow, it was really great. We stayed inside almost two hours. I'll post a few pictures, but everyone's favorite seemed to be the room with the lighted balls. A cool runner up was the Lilly pads where you could affect the 'fish' buy moving your hands.

    Art seen, we take another taxi to the post office where we pick up the baseball game tickets we ordered. Post office? Ummm... ok... that's what it said. 

    Tickets in hand, we walk to the metro for a short ride, then long walk around the Tokyo Dome to our entrance. A section in the outfield which was also the cheering section! And if you haven't seen Japanese baseball games and cheering, well, it's insane and pretty much constant. 

    Got food and beer (yay beer!) and enjoyed and even joined in the chants and singing! Afterwards, we take the metro all the way back to the apartment. It's going to be a short rest before maybe some dinner, and probably a pretty early crash. Great day for sure, but we're (or at least me) definitely needing to catch up on rest.

Japan travel day

     Well, this trip started off with a bit more excitement than we wanted. Two delayed flights on the first legs and one missed alarm to leave for the first leg! But, surprisingly, we all made it to our last flight ok. Abigail, Bailley, and I were on the same San Francisco to Tokyo flight and Madison was on a Vancouver to Tokyo flight landing at almost the same time.

    This was my first time in business class and boy howdy it was nice! 

    The only issue was that I needed a primer on "what to do in business class" before I got to try it. The attendant, Suzuki, knew my name as I boarded and proceeded to redo/fix everything I did for the first half of the flight... definitely a learning experience! 

    We land and deplane and meet Madison at immigration. 

    Once past immigration and the customs, we hit the only real issues so far. Getting from Narita airport to Shibuya/Shinjuku. The Skyline requires a different ticket and doesn't use Suica... so all our prepping and planning kind of hit a snag. But we finally got help, bought tickets, and after a wait got on the correct train. Thirty minute or so ride to Shinjuku then on to the local lines. 

    There, Suica in affect, we negotiated a few transfers and then a walk and we are at the apartment. The owner met us there and gave us a run down on everything. Most importantly, they gave us some ramen recommendations that were close and left a ton of Japanese snacks and candies! 

    We take a minute to regroup, then had back out for food. As we were trying to find a ramen place, we ran into the house owner, who basically hand led us to a place and showed us what to do. Well, that still wasn't enough, because we struggled a bit. At the door, you used a machine to pick what you want and it printed tickets. Then you give the cook the tickets and waited. Well, first, you couldn't select any of the meals. Oh, maybe money in first. But then the machine wouldn't take my bills. Finally my first "sumimasen"... ah, evidently you can't use a 10,000 yen bill. She gives me a 5,000 and 5 1,000 yen bills. Hmmm... won't take the 5,000 yen bill either.... oh, maybe the 1,000 right above the bill slot is telling us something. Ok, we finally get ordered and wait. Wow... the wait was worth it. Fantastic ramen in a tiny place all together. We sat, slurped, and exchanged dishes until we were all full.

    A short walk back to the apartment, get ready for bed, and crash.

St Lucia to home travel day

​Well… and just like that another vacation comes to an end.

A few last pics from the rental overlooking the pitons…

A few bites to ‘clean out’ the fridge of leftovers, then on the road to the airport. The airport can’t be more than 15 or so miles away… which is definitely an hour or more. Oddly, we have adapted to the driving so well, that the drive was pretty quiet… no constant ‘stay on the left!’ or ‘I’m not sure, but it loooooks like we should be going on the straight, left-ish road’, just drive and chat and discuss the trip. It’s weird, but the only thing I still periodically got wrong was the blinker… not that people used them a lot… but it was on the left of the steering column, and that never completely felt natural. I guess I didn’t use it enough to get that pure muscle memory. 

Bye bye trusty jimney.

On to the next trip!!!

St Lucia day 7

​Pretty chill day. Woke up and lounged a bit and made some spa reservations. Then for lunch we drove to Dasheen one last time.

Food was great, plus we even took leftovers back for later.

We, me mainly, nap a bit and then get ready for the spa. Spa was a short drive down the hill, not even into town. The girls got facials and I got a full body massage. Funny story (disclaimer: this is only my second message ever, so I know nothing on what to do). The lady takes me to where the massage tables are… basically the same view as below, over looking Soufriere and the pitons. She says undress and get on the table face down. I ask, completely undressed? Yes. She asks if it’s ok and am I ok doing it outside like this… I’m like sure, you know, when in Rome and all. So I get completely undressed and lay down on the table face down. A couple of minutes later I hear her walk back out… she touches my leg and says ‘under the sheet please’. Oh ok… ok… I could have used that info earlier, but ok. Rookie mistake I claim. 

Afterwards, we all reconvened in the bar of the resort where the spa was. 

Once dinner service opened, we ordered dishes to take back. Short drive and back to relax.

St Lucia day 6, moving day

​Today we get up and start packing up. We aay goodbye to Garvin and drive to Dasheen for an attempt at breakfast… attempt, because we were between breakfast and lunch… so denied! Alright, so just push on to the beach. Back to Malgretoute beach… but this time a rope across the road and person… hmmm. Seems due to the number of people at the resort on the beach, they weren’t letting people use their parking lot. Ok… so we pull into a little road across from Martha’s Tables and just leave the car there. There was a road/path we walked right to the beach.

We just lounged and relaxed before grabbing a late lunch on the beach. Got instructions on next house, so started driving. In Soufriere we got gas and filled up on snacks for ‘dinner’ later.

This house is more rustic for sure, but the views are something else.