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Temples and Anime

Posted on July 9, 2014 by robin

What do these two things have in common? Absolutely nothing! But those were the hot spots we hit today.

ASAKUSA
Senso-ji Temple is a large temple built for the Buddhist goddess of Mercy. It was built in 645 but was destroyed in the bombings of WWII. It was rebuilt in the 1920’s. Merchants flank the pathway into the grounds.
George and Karen at the Thunder Gate

Shoe shopping in Asakusa

The main shrine had a large vessel with incense burning that people waived over themselves cleansing themselves before entering. There was also a place to wash your hands before entering.

The lantern flower festival is going on right now. At the entrance to the shrine they were selling the flowers.

Got a small snack of crab on a stick and wandered around

We stopped for some sushi at a restaurant where the sushi passes before you on a conveyor belt and the dishes are color coded as to what price they are. It was awesome!

Next we went to Ueno park
A park with shrines and beautiful grounds.

Our next stop was Nakano a huge mall area that consisted of one anime related shop after another! Karen was in heaven. Actually she was so overwhelmed she didn’t know where to begin. It was a good problem!

We wrapped up the day with noodle soup across the street from our apartment! We are pooped!

One word.

Posted on July 8, 2014 by robin

Intimidated!

We landed at the airport, got our train passes and headed to the apartment. That part was easy. The train system that we were on had the stop announcements in Japanese and English, which was a relief. We met our rental host, Makoto, at the station and he couldn’t have been more friendly. Pointing out different restaurants and the grocery store. Giving us the lay of the land. We got settled in our apartment and hit the streets to explore.

That was intimidating! The thought of going in and ordering at a restaurant or walking into a storefront was overwhelming. The streets were bustling! It is a very cool neighborhood loads of restaurants down every street and pachinko parlors. Which are essentially slot machine parlors. We finally did go into the supermarket. Picked up some essentials, coffee, beer a little dinner in their prepared foods section.
Today we will have to go into a restaurant. I suspect once we get into the heart of things and out of the suburb there will be more English on the menus or pictures!

For now, here is the early morning view from our apartment

And so it begins!

Posted on July 7, 2014 by robin

Waking up this morning, I’m feeling sad to leave but excited for the next leg of our journey.

Boise has been fantastic! I have been pleasantly surprised by this city. It is a college town, but so much more. It has a vibrant downtown with some really great breweries and sidewalk Cafes. Something that really stood out was just how bike friendly the city is. Of coarse it helps that it’s flat, but there are wide streets and bike lanes everywhere! Boise also has a river running through it that is perfect for kayaking or float trips. Not to mention the fantastic views of all the sage brush covered foothills that surround the city. Just gorgeous!

Boise state campus is right in the heart of the city. For those of you that have seen Karen swim you know that her lucky cap is her Boise state cap. We were able to get a few workouts in at their pool which was pretty cool! Super nice facility

John and Kelsey’s wedding was in the mountains about an hour from Boise in Idaho City. It was gorgeous. We had a great time seeing family. We are so excited for John and Kelsey and happy that we were able to make it!

Here are some picture highlights!

Ten barrel brewing co.
Great dinner!

Visiting the capital building
A SIDDOWAY relative holds a state senator seat!

Wedding in Idaho city!

Side trip to Puerto Rico

Posted on June 27, 2014 by robin

Karen and I were lucky enough to get a girls trip in to Puerto Rico with my friend Yassiris and her daughter Madison. Our trip was a bit of a family reunion. Yassiris was reconnecting with with her mothers side of the family and rediscovering her Puerto Rican roots. Her extended family were overwhelmingly welcoming. We met them at a retaurant in the mountains that specializes in roasting the whole pig and other traditional Puerto Rican dishes.

We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Mar.

http://www.wyndhamriomar.com
Yassiris found a really great deal on living social. It seems to come up every now and again, so keep your eyes peeled!

A couple great things about Puerto Rico

It’s a us territory, so…
you don’t need a passport.
They use US currency.
All driving rules and signs are the same. Drive defensively. They treat yellow lights like a stale green. Pause a moment when your light changes from red to green. They are known to go through red lights. Other than that it was very easy to drive and get around.

To do’s…

Eat at roadside restaurants. They are cheap authentic and really good!

Old San Juan is a must! Go during the day so you can see everything.

Take a boat cruise to the Spanish Virgin Islands. These little chain of islands were featured in Pirates of the Caribbean.

we went through this company out of Fajardo. http://www.saildiveparty.com it was $69 per person includes lunch and snorkel equip. & a rum punch on the way back. If you want them to pick u up at your hotel then it’s $99 per person.

There is also a bioluminescence kayak trip at night which we didn’t do because it books fast. So book it before you leave.

We didn’t get to go to the rain forest because it was the rainy season and the road had washed out, but it looked amazing!

We felt very safe there and the people were friendly and gracious.

Awesome start to the summer!

I think I’m Learning Japanese, I really think so…

Posted on May 7, 2014 by robin

Learning the basic walk around phrases is my plan for our upcoming trip to Japan. I need to know just enough to be dangerous!

When we went to France last year, I found an app that really appealed to my inner 8 year old. Mind snacks

It is a great combination of seeing, hearing and playing! The games are short and fun.

Everyone is different when it comes to learning a language. For me, I guess I haven’t progressed past the 2nd grade in learning style!

Mind Snacks is a semi free app. It’s free to download but only comes with one lesson. It’s $4.99 for all the lessons for one particular language and $17.99 for all the languages. Pretty much every language is represented. It’s well worth the $4.99 but download it for free and test drive it to make sure you like it!

So if you are traveling and want a fun way to learn a language. Check out Mind Snacks.

Ja Mata!
Good bye!

Konichiwa Tokyo!

Posted on April 4, 2014 by robin

It’s official! We are headed to Japan!

It has been a dream of mine since I left Japan(1986), that one day I would return. It is going to be particularly special that I am returning with my own family, not to mention Karen will be the exact age I was the last time I was there.

We have only booked the airline tickets, but we are in the process of finding an apartment to rent while we are there. There is a website called homeway.com that hosts properties from around the world that are available to rent for vacations. This is what we did for France and it was awesome, not mention it was about $100 cheaper per night! I highly recommend it to you if you are looking to book a vacation.

Now our research and planning for our trip begins!

Au revoir Paris!

Posted on July 28, 2013 by robin

We had our last night in Paris and we are headed home tomorrow!

Lyon

Posted on July 27, 2013 by robin

Another gorgeous day, but extremely hot! 91degrees!
We rode the funicular up to the top of Lyon and saw the roman amphitheater where they hold concerts still!

Then we headed over to the basilica. Wow! That was extravagant. Very beautiful.

This is St Joseph’s church under the basilica it was impressive.

Then we headed upstairs, it was incredibly opulent. The floors ceilings and walls were all mosaics!

Next we explored some traboules. We didn’t get to explore enough of these, we only scratched the surface.
This network of tunnels allowed the silk merchants to get quickly from their workshops to the textile merchants at the foot of the hill. Thus the traboules of Lyon are located primarily in the ‘old city’ and are often credited with helping prevent the occupying Germans from taking complete control of these areas during World War II.

Tomorrow we head back to paris for our last night. Our adventure is coming to an end. It has been a trip of a lifetime!

Chateau de Menthon Saint Bernard

Posted on July 26, 2013 by robin

Annecy was so beautiful, we hated to leave it! Before we left we took one last stroll and to our surprise there was a farmers market happening today. So we picked up some cheese, baguette, tomato, sausages & apricots for a picnic on our way to Lyon.

We also took a detour to the chateau de menthon Saint Bernard. It was really cool. Saint Bernard was born there. The actual Saint Bernard patron saint of, mountaineers, hikers and skiers. He founded abbeys and helped many stranded hikers and pilgrims on their way to Rome. His monks started the breed of Saint Bernard dogs, named after him!
It was a really cool castle and we ended up having a private tour cause we were the only English speakers needing a tour!!

The story goes that Bernard’s father wanted him to marry this noble woman, but he wanted to become a priest, so he ran away by jumping out of his window, it’s said that angels helped him to the ground. This carving depicts that

The castle had a beautiful chapel. Included in the chapel was a a beautiful roman cross from the 11th or 12th century, vestments, and also Saint Bernards finger cased in a silver relic holder… Creepy. But none the less impressive!

the kitchen was too far away from the dining room so they built this tunnel with rails and a small cart to get the food to the dining room!

This fireplace was carved out of one solid piece of wood.

Largest book in the library.

We arrived in Lyon in time for the sunset at our rooftop apartment!

Mont Blanc

Posted on July 25, 2013 by robin

Today we took a day trip to Chamonix , Mont Blanc. The drive was gorgeous. The mountains are stunning! We took the cable car up Brevent for a spectacular view of Mont Blanc!
We took a brief trip to Switzerland, the drive there was gorgeous, but once we crossed there was no little touristy ski town like on the French side. A bit of a bummer, but we were rolling the dice without a map, since our TomTom map was just of France and my phone map was super slow! still had a great time!

Tomorrow we head to Lyon!

Glacial run off river right through the heart of Chamonix.