teamEggers

Kyoto

Jon recently found out he’s “on call” this weekend and not working in the office!  This may not be that exciting to you, but it means that we get to take a long-awaited weekend trip to Kyoto!

Kyoto is the former capitol of Japan, about 2.5 hours away by bullet train.  Not only will it be exciting to see the city, which is supposed to ooze with history (it is one of the only majour cities in Japan that was not burned to the ground during warfare.  Most japanese buildings have been rebuilt.), but it’s cherry blossom season and we get to take the bullet train!

This is so awesome, for so many reasons.  Kyoto is one of the best places in the country to stay in a ryokan, or traditional Japanese style lodging.  They’re tremendously expensive but are supposed to be one of the best ways to “splurge” on your Japanese vacation. Everything is good, right? Because it’s cherry blossom season, we’re going on what will potentially be the most beautiful weekend of the year.

Good. Well.  We apparently are not the only ones with such high thoughts of Kyoto. Nearly every ryokan, hotel, and hostel is completely booked.  We can’t even find one of those cheap “back up plan” hotels.

For all that, we MAY have to sleep in the train station.

Adulthood.

Feeling wistful. Between the wedding, San Diego, and Japan, the past year feels like a blur. And time seems to be going faster and faster – I hear that happens as you age.  Sucks. Remember when the summers lasted for lifetimes?  Now I can blink away entire weeks if I don’t concentrate on being “present in the moment”.

I miss having grass. I’m trying to talk jon into moving to a townhouse when we get back to Seattle. He’s trying to talk me into buying a condo.

Also, this summed up my day yesterday.  I love that everything I’ll ever feel has already been described in a web cartoon:

I hate spring.

I’ve been going on and on for days about how great spring is.  And how happy i am that spring is here. And spring spring spring.

puke.

you know what I forgot?  Spring makes my throat itch. in a bad way.

I hate you, spring.

Palace Gardens

Last month, Jon and I went to the gardens at the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, we got a late start and the theme of the day was “already closed!”.  This time we were smart – we know now that tree viewing is only done before 3pm!  With an early start, we headed out for the day.  Into the rain.

Okay. Nothing is ever perfect, but we had a fine time anyways.  While it’s technically spring now, it’s not yet spring-in-full-bloom.  I imagine the gardens, like much of everything in the world, will be exponentially more beautiful in just a few weeks.

It’s crazy how fast the season changes.  Cherry blossom viewing literally lasts days as the trees transform from barren sticks to incredible pink flowers to green leaves in no time.

While there were the occasional precocious bloomers, most of the palace gardens looked a bit dreary and forlorn:

I think we have terrible luck getting a good view of Mt. Fuji. Just like Mt. Rainier near Seattle, Fuji is a mountain who shows itself when it feels like it. This is the fuji viewing tower that we totally would have rocked if it weren’t raining.

Anyways. It’s spring. And we love you.

Noge, Yokohama

As in any big city, there are neighborhoods in Yokohama. Neighborhoods yet undiscovered. Huge Neighborhoods.

One of the remaining gray spots on the map was Noge.  I have no idea how the Japanese would pronounce this, but I’ve been calling it “The Najsh” (soft “g” sound). I set out on my sunshine-filled Saturday morning with a vague idea of where I was going and very little plans for the afternoon.  When I say I’ve been at my computer too much lately, I hope you understand what a statement that is.  I am nearly always attached to Google. I’m generally happiest when the soft glow of my MacBook  is reflecting off of my glasses. But lately?  Lately it’s just been too much. My eyes/brain were fried.

But before I get there, I run across this unattended group of 7-year olds. Now, perhaps it’s because we’re overcautious, or perhaps it’s because our society genuinely demands the full supervision of our children… but you would be astonished by how many unattended children I see here.  This group in particular looks like a miniature group of adults with their shopping bags and pensive looks.

The Japanese use English words differently than we do. Here’s another good example. I think they just like the phrase “Merry X’mas”.

What do you think this means? “Taste | Incense | Source”

This next picture is either a testament to how quickly American culture is adopted OR how globally accepted our new president is. I can’t decide. Either way, I think it’s awesome. (for the record, a “shot bar” is somewhere that you go to drink … shots. not somewhere that you shoot things.)

I left the house at 9am which means that I probably got to The Najsh around 9:30. Nothing was open so I parked myself in a cafe and read a bit. It was about 11:00 when I set out again and still nothing was open. This is 11:00am on a Saturday that is definitely not a holiday. The stores here open up very late and they seem to close up early. (with the exception of bars, I would assume) Considering that nothing is cheap here, and with so many shopkeepers there’s got to be a lot of competition-I can’t imagine that owning a business is easy. WHY aren’t they ever open? I’m serious. It’s driving me nuts.

Anyways. Here’s a picture of the river that cuts through Yokohama. It’s lovely to live in a place where there’s water everywhere.

You know, when nothing’s open a city isn’t that exciting. It’s rather like living in the country after they’ve killed all the trees and animals and poured concrete all over. So… I left Noge.