London - day 1

We gathered to leave at 2020 from SLC to London. The first ominous sign was that our flight was oversold by ten seats. Delta begged people to fly to London later and offered increasingly impressive flight vouchers. The last one went up for $1000. I saw many families waiting to board. Great for them, worrying for me. It wasn't long before off we went and the baby started to cry. Though the flight was only five hours, I'm told, but it felt as though it were a million years long. The baby cried, my neck, and elbow hurt, Joda kept jabbing me (on accident) and also tried to wrestle my jacket away at one point in her sleep. Funny now but man it was a long flight. I watched Big Bang Theory and napped a bit. By the time we arrived in London it was 1320 their time and my brain felt ... funny. Then we had a running tour of London. You think I'm joking, and we didn't actually run, but we sped walked and still were late for dinner! We walked THROUGH the British Museum ... straight from the entrance to the exit. It was ROUGH on me. My feet were hurting and we didn't even have time to take pictures. :/ HOWEVER, we had an INCREDIBLE dinner. We had a turkey/chicken pasties/pies and with mash and gravy. I hadn't had lunch but get a look at this...


GLORIOUS!! Also our guide for the beginning of the tour was a riot. His name is Umar and he was a peach.

In any case, to the hotel we went with my abdomen throbbing and an ankle to match it. I'm so glad to have time to sleep and excited tomorrow for a bus tour of London. YAY!!

Never-ending Moooonday!

Traveling back in time does that to you. Part of the problem is that our hotel had a 10 am checkout time. I set an alarm for 8 am (so we could shower and get breakfast before we checked out) and I woke up, literally, EVERY SINGLE HALF HOUR. I was so paranoid I would oversleep even though I'd set an alarm. It was quite stressful. When I woke up at 7:54, I found JT was already awake and talked him through our plans for the morning. He showered and then I did and we grabbed a shared/traded breakfast. We headed back up to the room and tried to make sure we had all our stuff. We also discovered we'd forgotten to pack our umbrellas so we did so. We went down, checked out, and asked them if they'd hold our bags for around an hour. We then walked to the neighborhood grocery store where I bought little bags of candy for the flight attendants. I've read about people doing that online and always wanted to do it. So wahoo! We then went back and collected our luggage. We spent a few hours in Tokyo Eki (station) trying to find this bakery JT LOVED. We looked EVERYWHERE and finally gave up. I bought this AWESOME skeleton tea towel I want to put up somewhere in my home. I'm so psyched! We spent quite a while trying to find somewhere to grab something to eat and finally decided on a crêpe place. It was decent! We then headed to the airport. We arrived two hours earlier than we needed to, but we were FINISHED with Tokyo Eki. (Oh! JT also was able to find a cool Naruto Shirt at the Jump shop so that was cool!)

So now JT and I are waiting at the airport. I don't believe I will write anything else on this entry unless another funny story happens. We've got 12 hours worth of flight to LAX, a seven hour layover, and then home to Utah. So as I said, never-ending Moooonday!! (Sung to the tune of "Neverending Story.") -- We're leaving 1850 Tokyo time and arriving 2107 Utah time (there's a 15 hour difference). Kinda fun and crazy to fly into the past. ^ - ^

Funny story: When we were at the grocery store, I found some candies that looked distinctly Japanese and had a fair amount and they were individually wrapped. They looked like exactly what I wanted to give to some flight attendants. I didn't know, however, what flavor they were. So I went over to a clerk and said, "Sumimasen, kore wo yomimasen. Nan aji desu ka?" (Excuse me, I can't read this. What flavor is it? -- At least that's what I was going for.) He tells me the flavor in Japanese, which means nothing to me. So he goes, "Amai." "Sweet." Wow. LOL I laughed about it walking back to the hotel with JT. Do you know how many flavors are housed under SWEET!? Cherry, grape, kiwi, watermelon, chocolate.. you get my point. They're all very different. PLUS, I'd gotten it from the candy section. I should HOPE it's sweet. HAHAHA Just a funny experience. (Not the guy's fault that I didn't know whatever flavor he actually told me. Poor dude.)

I'll give it a shot...

Japanese crêpe

So, as long as I check the number I can pick what luggage I want?? YAY!

Limor's Wedding

JT requested that we have an easy day where we're not running around and catching trains and hiking all over the city. Today was that day. I figured it should be this Sunday as I was going out in the evening alone anyway.

Morning - JT and I grab the free breakfast from the hotel. Then we go out to a grocery store to grab snacks and food for the rest of the day. (I meant to do this yesterday to not shop on Sunday. :/ Dang it!)

Afternoon - JT watches Naruto, my exhaustion hits me like a ton of bricks. Even with my sleeping pill I've been averaging 5 hours of sleep a night. That plus the jetlag has been rough. I conked out for a nap. It was funny because at first I thought I'd had this long nap and all this time had gone by... and I had passed out for some two minutes. I asked JT if he had snored (since I remembered hearing snoring). "No." "Oh... did >I< snore?" "Uhhh no." "How long has it been?" "Like two seconds! What's going on!?" HAHAHA I thought that THAT meant no nap for me. But I turned over and passed out. I woke up a few minutes before the alarm I had set to get ready to go to Limor's wedding party.

Evening - Took the Hibiya line to Ginza station. I asked for some directions and found the club. It was SO MUCH FUN! There was taiko, cake, .. an open bar! LOL I told JT, "It was like TV or the movies!" The bartender gave me weird looks the two times I went to him to get grapefruit juice. I, seriously, ordered from the kid's menu. I bet he thought that >I< thought I had to pay for my drinks (drinks are expensive in Japan). Nope. I don't drink dude! It was really fun!! I hope you all had as rewarding a Sunday. I got to see Limor, Shingo, Jake, Tom, Saz, Kelly, and Nathalie. (In that order too I believe.) I also met some of Limor's family and friends. They were really nice. -- I was also briefly mentioned in a wedding speech! Crazy! HAHAHA

Anyway, happy Sunday to all you in the US! XOXO, A

Limor & Shingo

Cake!

Tokyo Day!

JT and I allowed ourselves to sleep in since we were planning on staying in town anyway. We got up, showered, grabbed some breakfast, and headed out. A note on breakfast - there are two choices. Breakfast A has toast, a small cabbage salad, a hardboiled egg, and a drink of choice (coffee, orange or grapefruit juice, hot chocolate, etc). Breakfast B featured a croissant, that same small salad, plain yogurt with a small spoon of blueberry syrup, and a drink of choice. I finally figured out I could trade my own brother. I gave him my toast and took his yogurt. I also took a small bite of croissant. We were much happier that way. I had salad, plain yogurt (that JT hated, lol), and an egg with one bite of a croissant. He had more carbs to get him going. It was perfect! In any case...

The very first and probably most exciting thing for JT is the fact that it was raining. He had been saying everyday that he hoped it rained so he could use his clear umbrella that he had purchased. He was STOKED to be out in the rain with it. ^ - ^ We started with Asakusa and saw the local shrine. One guy chatted JT up. That was, interesting to say the least. I was worried he might be trying to scam JT in some way. He'd stopped JT and when I saw JT was back there, I headed back and listened to all the questions this guy was asking. Everything little thing JT said, the guy trotted out everything he knew about that place. I answered all the questions he had in Japanese. I wanted him to know that if he had something in mind we were savvy travelers. Maybe I was paranoid, but this is my baby brother! Plus he eventually goes, "Ok, BYE!" And just abruptly turned and left. It was a very strange meeting. In any case, JT and I looked at the shops and got our omikuji (fortunes). JT got a very good one and I got "best fortune!" Great news everyone - according to my fortune this is a good time for me to get married. Any takers? ;p (Guess I should have been dating all this time! Woe is me! HAHAHAHA!)

After Asakusa, we went to Tawaramachi stop to visit Kappabashi. I accidentally overshot it (oops), but we headed back and got to see lots of cool kitchen stuff. We also saw the plastic food they make. ^ - ^ I got a sushi fridge magnet. I ALMOST got an ebi one (that nigiri I almost threw up), but decided against it last minute, lol. I want to go back to Kappabashi with lots of money and get really cool stoneware bowls and plates and Japanese dishes. Not sure how to get them home safely but... it's on the list for me.

We then headed to Ueno Koen (Park) and walked around. We saw some really amazing architecture and got to chat with some people who work at the park. ^ - ^ JT and I, I think I said this before, found out we're ideal traveling companions. We got to the park and meandered for a while and that was good enough for us. We thought about hitting up the zoo but since it was raining and we didn't feel a pressing need to do that, we skipped it. We didn't see every corner of the park and didn't go in any museums. That being said, we were happy with our time in the park. We saw some incredible things, took some pictures, and headed to Ameyoko. Ameyoko is a giant open air market. A few years back when it hit it up with Saz and my ex, it was really fun. JT and I REALLY disliked it though. So many bodies, plus humidty, plus the smell of cigarettes everywhere was making me violently ill (kept having to try not to puke), I got a massive migraine, and we just disliked the whole thing. We were looking for manga type stuff and no one would/could help us find any. We wandered around some 2 hours and I told JT I was DONE. He agreed that we should leave and we hit Mister Donut on the way out. We headed back to our hotel.

At the hotel I was able to take a pain pill and just rest. I couldn't eat my donuts until my stomach settled. (JT and I had eaten on a bus bench near Kappabashi.) After I felt better, I started researching the Daisos in Tokyo. If you have never been to Daiso, maybe stay away so you can live happily far from them. They are AWESOME. JT is already in love with them (as he should be). I found the biggest one in Tokyo and we headed over. It was really fun and in Harajuku. That was my first experience with that part of Tokyo. It had that classic Tokyo night crowd scene you see in movies. It was so amazing to share with JT. We found another little shop we checked out and just had fun being out there. It was, all in all, a wonderfully successful foray into Tokyo.

JT getting to use his new umbrella

Next to Sensou-ji

Ueno Koen

Looking into Tokyo from the park

Ameyoko

Harajuku

Japan from the movies!

And now for the English funnies portion ...

(My personal favorite)

Friend Day

Today JT and I got to have a small non-adventure in the morning (I took us to what I thought was a hyaku-en shop... but it was a hyaku-en car rental place... errrr).

In the afternoon we met Limor and Jake (surprise!) for lunch. We met them at Shin-Ookubo station and went to a katsu place. It was SO FUN to catch up with them! I think JT was a bit scarred afterwards though... we are a fairly open bunch, lol.

In the evening, we went to dinner with a former student of mine. We met her at Ueno Station and went to get sushi. She ordered SO MUCH. JT and I were sort of inwardly panicking at the price of the meal, but she paid for it! (Actually her friend did... it made us feel all sorts of awkward! I'm glad that I brought her a gift!)

Funny story: So, the very first nigiri-sushi that JT and I tried was the ebi (shrimp). I'd not had it raw before and was nervous but I always say I'll try something once. It was actually offered to me while I was living in Japan. I guess luckily I was full as that one had to be dug out of the shell. In any case, I was steeling myself for the experience. JT went first. I looked at him and asked, "How was it?" under my breath. "Not bad." Whew... oh wait, JT IS A LIAR! Oh man, I had to rip that thing out of it's shell with my teeth and I kept chewing and chewing and it wasn't breaking apart or going away. I felt like I was turning green. I was taking deep and slow breaths through my nose and this ball of mushy, sinewy, ebi was just globbed in the center of my mouth. I had to pretend I wasn't about to ralph (and there were a few close moments), and I just tried and tried and TRIED to chew some of it off to swallow. The longer it sat in my mouth, the less I felt I could finish it. I decided I just had to swallow the whole thing. I was afraid it would lodge in my throat and I'd throw it back up. (As I explained this later to JT on the subway I told him, "Can you imagine if I puked it all up? Um, excuse me our sushi is covered in vomit. Pretty sure it came that way." He was laughing so hard I thought he was going to pee his pants. So I had to follow it up with, "There's vomit on my chin and then *pointing to him* 'He did it!'") Luckily I was able to swallow the entire thing. Yeesh. Everything else was great other than the uni (sea urchin). So yay for good sushi and boo to the disgusting texture of others! HAHAHA

Today was another great day in Japan!