Saturday parts one and two (it was a really really long day), July 11

 We get up early and get packed up at 5:30 a.m. We each have a backpack and the green suitcase. We check out and head to the street car - to the train station. In my big backpack is my little traveling backpack: sweater, leg warmers, head pillow, Kindle, food, glasses and medicine. 

At the train station we buy random snacks for our bullet train ride. My neck is feeling GREAT! And my whole body is more relaxed. All that comfort for only $54!!!! Would totally do it acupuncture again.

On the bullet train, nice seats, good snacks, watching the country go by. Nice. Get to Tokyo - CRAZY!! We find a place (a karaoke bar at night and a baggage holding area by day - great business plan!) Josh wants to see if he can find a cool camera. Current problem is all the ones we have seen so far only have Japanese language instructions. So if can find the right year, you can do an upload or something. Many camera shops, no luck. Walking walking. There is a gf bakery right around here I say. So we look and look.Apparenlty it is in a shopping mall. So we finally find it. Oh my goodness cuteness!! Josh says  I can only get one thing. See un-boxing pictures below. 

Time to go get bag and get to the airport. Get a bus to the airport. We are trying so desperately to buy somethings to drink. We get one that is like....jello, but a drink. Josh downs it. An hour and twenty to the airport, getting to see more of the interstate/city roads.

Airport, get checked  in. Josh can check our bag for free - yay! Find the right terminal. Josh still has money, so I go make sure they have my gf meals (yes, yes, they do!) (saves me from having to run around and find food in the airport). Josh is in a checkout line with seven boxes of chocolate (cheap and good). I check labels and add three more boxes - I mean, wouldn't you want to try strawberry/peach white chocolate? (Yes, yes you would).

Get on plane. Get food. I give Josh a sleeping pill. He sleeps. I watch Wicked 2. And listen to a whole book on tape. And sleep a tad. And get the baby-fits for the last five hours (remember, home is only 8.5 hours!) Maybe I am allergic to planes? I won't want to dope myself with even more allergy drugs, because not being able to sleep when you are so so sleepy because you have the fits is HORRID. 

Arrive Seattle. HOME!! Words in English!! I understand it!! I happily pay $75 to bump my flight up two hours so can be on same plane as Josh. Feet SO SO sore. Have Wendy's!! Strawberry lemonade. (Still so thirsty). Wait a bit. Get on the plane.

SLC!!!! Been up basically 36 hours. Our suitcase is in the first 15 down the baggage claim. Our car is exactly where Josh left it (yay) and we walk right to it. Sail right out paying and are home in 45 minutes. Nice! Kids are excited we are home. Nothing burned down. 

SLEEP!!!

Fancy cars on the streets of Tokyo on a Saturday afternoon, they will make chips out of anything! My gorgeous and delicious strawberry shortcake. There was even an ice pack inside so it did not get hot. We find the rooftop garden to eat in. Homeward bound!

Friday, July 10

 Josh is off for his last day. My last goal is to get some acupuncture for my sore sore neck (and possibly feet). After an hour of consulting and waiting with the concierge, I get an appointment for noon!!! And a very nice hand written note about what I want.  I go sit by my tree at the shrine, and think of the hard things I have done (I am also working on my letter to my missionary self - as per my therapist). 

I walk over to the acupuncture place. They are very excited to see me. I take off my shoes and do some paperwork. Then she comes in and asks if I will put on their cute little jammie set. It is a button down, soft cotton set  - with velcro on the back so they can work on your back with your clothes on. Smart! So I explain and she comes over and touches my sore neck and says 'oh, oh, oh, I can see.' Yeah it was bad.

So I get on my jammie and lay down. It does feel like little needles are being wacked into your most tender parts. Not bad, just a needle. I get a bunch on my left/bad side and some on the other side. Meanwhile, I am getting vacuum-sucked pressure on my legs (she also oh, oh'd on my feet). I do feel like saying "If you actually put a needle in my foot I will scream"... but the needles went on the sides of the leg. That was ok. Then the needles come out and I get a 'massage' a lot of rubbing pressure, with an extra towel even. I support modesty! Anyway. I am done. I sit up. I can MOVE MY NECK!! And my feet don't hurt! They are very pleased that I am very pleased. They ask if they can put my picture on their instagram. I say sure!

Lots of bowing. Back I go to the hotel and get ready to meet Josh at the Peace Memorial (he is skipping the afternoon 'good bye' session. It was well put together. Big panorama of the city before the bomb, and then one after. All the wood houses are gone and most of the stone building are at least partly destroyed. Personal stories and artifacts. Pictures of burn victims. Sad and haunting. It is crowded. Another hot day. There are more things downstairs about nuclear war/weapons. Interesting. Aug 6, at 8:16. Bunches of school kids were out (downtown) tearing down already destroyed buildings. 

We walked down and saw the tower where the bomb exploded in the air (they set it to do that so the ground would not be so contaminated with nuclear energy). We walk and walk trying to find a place. Finally Josh makes me go back to a total tourist restaurant (on a river) and have risotto and tomatoes and mozzarella. Apparently I am hangry. 

We walk around some more and buy some more stuff. We stop by another of the grill-your-own-meat places and they say they can help us. So we sit down and get our warm towel to wipe our hands. Then the first plate of meat comes with sauce on it. So my lovely honey explains that won't work and they bring us another. Humidity is exhausting. Tomorrow is home!

Grilling, those Godzilla movies where he is stomping on miles and miles of city - that is what Tokyo is actually like...miles and miles of high rises, sky scrapers, it is HUGE

Thursday, July 9

 Josh is off and I went to do laundry today. It costs $8 to wash/dry (same machine) and takes one hour. Very handy. Josh wanted to go to lunch together. So while I waited for the maid to finish our room, I asked the concierge about where to go for a charm. Got a plan.

Sara (my beloved TA for my classes), wants a blessed charm from a temple/shrine. I spent the day trying to find one. I am unsure of how to go about this...despite google's instructions. The shrine next door does not seem to have anything. So I take the street car over to see the Hiroshima Temple. Very famous (reconstruction after the war of course). I  walk about. Nothing. I call Ashley, she and google direct me to another place that allegedly has a gift shop. I go. No charms/tokens. I  get a tour and it is pretty cool. (Actually, boiling hot, the sun has come out these days.....)

Did I mention it was HOT. I walked all over. Didn't find anything. Walked to train station. Found a grocery store....and a beautiful fruit bowl!!!  So I made it mine. Made it home, stopping by the 7-11 and went a bit crazy (do I really need six drinks? and custard? and a popsicle.... yes, yes I did). Hydrated and napped. My poor feet!

I called and asked for two blankets (thinking maybe I could sleep better if I had more weight). They are deep, thick and wool! (I do love the custom of no tipping - never at a loss of what to give/do!)

Castle, the long and square cuts for bows and arrows. Rectangle ones for guns. 

Wednesday, July 8

 Today is the field trip. So Josh goes off for his morning meetings and I go to the Shrine/temple right next to the hotel. I have been there most days. It is cool to see a Japanese person come by and bow, wash face, go to to people there and do something (There is something having to do with a white paper/write a wish holiday coming up. Don't as me, everything is in Japanese). There is another tree survivor of the A-bomb. I give the tree a pat. It can do hard things, I can do hard things (like this insomnia). Did a little sightseeing/shopping. 

Met Josh at the Peace Memorial and we get on the bus. I do like driving around and seeing the city. We get on a huge ferry boat. We are going to see a famous island and its shrine. It is like 3 p.m., HOT and we are hungry. It's all good... I have scoped out a famous gf fried chicken place!! We hike (45 min) to the other side of the island and.... "We sold out. See you tomorrow!" UGH. So we walk to another place, not open. Ask at three places - give us the 'you are definitely weird' look. Finally (after 30 more minutes of walking in the heat and humidity), we stop at a place that gets the card and has something. Josh has a delightful looking tray with a fried pork tenderloin. I have some.....Japanese curry and a lot of rice. Mainly rice. But there was water!! So it was ok.

Shopping in the tourist shops is Josh's idea of heck. We get some chopsticks. At the right time, we head back to the ferry, where we boat to some place else for the banquet. They have water!s And orange juice, coke and spirits. 

We sit with Josh's friend and some people from Germany. The food is all labeled!!! And there are vegetarian tables (so I sneak food off those too). Yum!! Then there is a short presentation (I say, if you are going to give out a life time award... make sure those people can get passports and get to the conference in time).  There are tiny little desserts, I snag us some. There is a show with drums, flute and snakes. And a samurai guy. I get the basic story line, but I think the princess got eaten in the beginning...

Lots of talking and I read the NYTimes on my phone. We get on a bus that takes us right back to our hotel. Josh picked a good one.

Night!

At the island shrine, $9 to wash and dry a load (machine does both). 

Tuesday, July 7

 Josh goes to convention, I go to meet Sa-cheng. We meet at the clock by the train station. It was SO SO hot already. Sa-cheng brought me a neckerchief with little cold packs in it and ties it around my neck . It is AWESOME!! She had a neck ice thing. We take the train to the famous city gardens! There is a huge pond, a bridge, and the cutest guide!! It was SOSO hot the guide's glasses kept fogging up! The guide was wonderful, she had her volunteer jacket and a folder she had made herself with pictures of the gardens in differenent seasons and other stuff. Cute! She took us around the whole garden and had great English skills. She and Sa-cheng had a lot of conversations and explained a lot to me. I saw a blue heron!!

There is a genko tree there that survived the A-bomb. A lot of survivors came to the park, because of the water. They all died before help could come. Their remains were buried there until the 80s when they went to join other at the Peace Memorial. The tree survived and they sent its nuts around the world to promote peace. 

It was SO hot.

So when we finished the gardens, we went to the museum. With Air Conditioning! There were some cool paintings and a huge one by Salvador Dali - with melting clocks of course. Then we sat for a while. I told her I really wanted a massage - and she found me a place for a neck massage! ( My left neck has been SO stiff and killing me for like seven weeks...I tried a massage at home, the chiropractor...nothing worked) So I got a neck massage at a place in the mall.  We were at  the stores at the train station and I tried on some clothes...I got three cute new blouses! 

We met Josh after his conference and went to a fancy grilling place upstairs. They even gave you clothes for our backpacks - so grease would not splatter on them! It was....ok. I think Sa-cheng freaked out at the price (we paid of course). But she got the points or something on her card, so all good. 

This is the hotel where you put your card on the elevator panel and it sends you to the right floor! 

Then we went home and sat on the bed and I read. Sleeping pretty good!

Fancy grill-your-own-meat place, Sa-chang made me this CUTE bag!!! Massage place, cute blouse store, the Trajan Column of Hiroshima! (I am going to look that up), museum and garden stuff, my cute neckerchief, gardens, me and Sa-cheng, lovely tour guide (who knew words like 'longevity' (WAY past my Japanese vocabulary).