Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Tokyo Tours R Us
What a busy couple of weeks! A friend of mine from the land of Oz (Christian) came to visit me in Tokyo. It was great to see him again and we had heaps of fun!
First, we went to Hakuba near Nagano March 12 and 13. We spent the weekend attempting to snowboard (I have to say I think I spent more time on my bum than on my board!) but we had a good time. The place where we stayed "Luna Piena" has great breakfasts and dinners and the best service ever! AND it's a mere 5 min walk to the chairlift at Happo ski/board resort. I had such a great time that I'm going back there for a week-long snowboarding holiday at the end of March.
After our boarding weekend (Nursing many bruises and sore muscles) we returned to Tokyo... Christian did the self-guided tour thing during the days and I proceeded to work hard all week. After that, we both still managed to go out shopping and dining most nights (not a bad effort, hu?)
I introduced Christian to the wonders of Japanese cuisine including Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes) and Yakitori (various chicken skewers). We found a fab Italian restaurant with the very Italian name of "Ole, Ole" and had great Indian food and even went to an Irish pub for dinner and a pint of Kilkenny on St. Patrick's Day!.
My kids had their school concert on Thursday. They did the most fantastic job. I was so proud of them, I nearly cried!
Christian led me astray and FORCED me to purchase a snowboard set... I have to say it IS super nice!!
On Saturday we went to Disneyland. It was fairly busy (It's a long weekend here) but we managed to get on some rides and have a good look around. We ended our day with a ride on Splash Mountain. I managed to get the wettest of everyone on the ride and still managed to look perfectly calm (almost comatose) in the photo... so I decided it was worth purchasing!
Then on Sunday I sent Christian off home... waving goodbye as his taxi disappeared into the sunset... I hope I told the taxi driver the right place to go!
First, we went to Hakuba near Nagano March 12 and 13. We spent the weekend attempting to snowboard (I have to say I think I spent more time on my bum than on my board!) but we had a good time. The place where we stayed "Luna Piena" has great breakfasts and dinners and the best service ever! AND it's a mere 5 min walk to the chairlift at Happo ski/board resort. I had such a great time that I'm going back there for a week-long snowboarding holiday at the end of March.
After our boarding weekend (Nursing many bruises and sore muscles) we returned to Tokyo... Christian did the self-guided tour thing during the days and I proceeded to work hard all week. After that, we both still managed to go out shopping and dining most nights (not a bad effort, hu?)
I introduced Christian to the wonders of Japanese cuisine including Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes) and Yakitori (various chicken skewers). We found a fab Italian restaurant with the very Italian name of "Ole, Ole" and had great Indian food and even went to an Irish pub for dinner and a pint of Kilkenny on St. Patrick's Day!.
My kids had their school concert on Thursday. They did the most fantastic job. I was so proud of them, I nearly cried!
Christian led me astray and FORCED me to purchase a snowboard set... I have to say it IS super nice!!
On Saturday we went to Disneyland. It was fairly busy (It's a long weekend here) but we managed to get on some rides and have a good look around. We ended our day with a ride on Splash Mountain. I managed to get the wettest of everyone on the ride and still managed to look perfectly calm (almost comatose) in the photo... so I decided it was worth purchasing!
Then on Sunday I sent Christian off home... waving goodbye as his taxi disappeared into the sunset... I hope I told the taxi driver the right place to go!
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Nagano Cultural Weekend March 5-6
This weekend I went to Nagano with some people from work.
We had a fantastic time.
First, we saw some of the city of Nagano. The Special Olympics were just finishing so there were lots of foreigners around. We got a volunteer guide when we went to the temple (she was awesome). Thanks to her, I managed to find the key to enlightenment AND be re-born... all in the space of an hour!
We stayed at a hostel inside the first set of gates to the temple. It used to be acommodation for the monks at the temple and it was gorgeous. The landlady was great too. She even gave us warm sake and called the local restaurant to deliver dinner to us!
It did become a little bit tragic when, around 7:30pm, we had eaten dinner, consumed a number of bottles of wine and were ready for bed! We decided instead to play some games... what followed was a couple of hilarious hours of (gradually more substandard) charades and celebrity head.
On Sunday we were up at the "crack of sparrows" to wash our faces in the icy tap water (hot water was down stairs but it was 2 degrees down there) I stuck to the cold water in the 5 degree environment. Bags packed, we went back to the train station (along with some Estonian masseurs... sadly, all female) for breakfast (some of us nursing slight hang-overs) then on the bus up to near the Snow monkeys.
http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/frameset.html
Check this website if you're interested. Not only does it have a "live webcam" (which seems to show one pic an hour) but it also has some of the most attrocious Engrish I've seen in a long time! But... the snow was beautiful and the monkeys were very cool!
A word to the wise... don't take any plastic bags! The monkeys associate that with food and they WILL attack (Saw it happen to an old lady Sunday morning). The lady was fine but her rice ball took a quick journey up the nearest tree, in the hands of a monkey.
We had a fantastic time.
First, we saw some of the city of Nagano. The Special Olympics were just finishing so there were lots of foreigners around. We got a volunteer guide when we went to the temple (she was awesome). Thanks to her, I managed to find the key to enlightenment AND be re-born... all in the space of an hour!
We stayed at a hostel inside the first set of gates to the temple. It used to be acommodation for the monks at the temple and it was gorgeous. The landlady was great too. She even gave us warm sake and called the local restaurant to deliver dinner to us!
It did become a little bit tragic when, around 7:30pm, we had eaten dinner, consumed a number of bottles of wine and were ready for bed! We decided instead to play some games... what followed was a couple of hilarious hours of (gradually more substandard) charades and celebrity head.
On Sunday we were up at the "crack of sparrows" to wash our faces in the icy tap water (hot water was down stairs but it was 2 degrees down there) I stuck to the cold water in the 5 degree environment. Bags packed, we went back to the train station (along with some Estonian masseurs... sadly, all female) for breakfast (some of us nursing slight hang-overs) then on the bus up to near the Snow monkeys.
http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/frameset.html
Check this website if you're interested. Not only does it have a "live webcam" (which seems to show one pic an hour) but it also has some of the most attrocious Engrish I've seen in a long time! But... the snow was beautiful and the monkeys were very cool!
A word to the wise... don't take any plastic bags! The monkeys associate that with food and they WILL attack (Saw it happen to an old lady Sunday morning). The lady was fine but her rice ball took a quick journey up the nearest tree, in the hands of a monkey.
Friday, March 04, 2005
School Cancelled for Friday March 4th due to Snow 6:23a.m
Due to the heavy snow fall over night ... International School has decided it is not safe for children to come to school. School will be closed today. There will be no school for ECE, Primary or Secondary.
Due to the heavy snow fall over night ... International School has decided it is not safe for children to come to school. School will be closed today. There will be no school for ECE, Primary or Secondary.
Horay!
I still have to go to work,
but I also get to play in the snow....
and I don't have to share it with the kids! :-D
Thursday, March 03, 2005
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