How far is China?

One afternoon, after our helper Christy left for the day, Max asked me: Where's Christy?

I told him:  She went home.

He responded: Where is her home?

I said with some exasperation: I don't know.  Far away.

Max:  Hmmmm... maybe China.

...crazy!

O-hanami

Picnicking under the cherry blossoms is HUGE in Japan.  It is a rite of Spring and Mom and Mark hit the peak of the season during their trip here in early April.  Needless to say, we have lots of pictures of cherry blossoms...

Here are a few shots of us or others, enjoying the scenery.

Grammy and Max in Inokashira Park

PB & J 0-hanami style

I took this from our picnic site at Inokashira Park

Folks at Ueno Park around 10:30 in the morning

Mom and Heather walking to the zoo in Ueno Park

Kyoto

Mom, Mark, Rich, Max and I visited Kyoto at the height of the cerry blossom season.  Our last trip to Kyoto was amid glorious fall foliage.  This time, we were lucky to hit the peak of spring. We hit the temples and shrines we didn't see in the fall - Nanzen-ji, Ginkaku-ji, Heian Shrine Gardens, Nijo-jo Castle and Ryoan-ji.

We arrived on a glorious Friday and checked into our Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn). We had some lunch 0-hanami style (picnicing under the cherry trees at a nearby park and after some ice cream (soy for me) trekked out to Nanzen-ji and enjoyed the grounds, a quiet garden and ancient aquaduct.  

We then retired to our ryokan and had tea and then private baths.  Dinner followed and then Mom, Max and I crashed on our comfy futons while Rich took Mark out for a drink in the Geisha district.

Day two we had intermittent light rain but we covered Ginaku-ji and it's amazing gardens and sand gardens, and the gorgeous Heian Shrine gardens.  Lunch was a ramen noodle shop (inedible for me as the broth was either chicken and pork derived and turned my stomach.)  So for dinner I made everyone go to a vegetarian buffet place.  We then toured the Nijo-jo castle with its gardens and cherry trees illuminated by spotlights.  

On Sunday Rich, Max and I headed off on our own to a famous outdoor food market where Max was fascinated by a well-worn machine that was turning whole dried fish into Bonito shavings. (Bonito is used in numerous dishes to flavor stock).  

We then took a cab outside of the main city to Ryoan-ji, site of one of the more famous zen rock gardens.  We contemplated the ripples in the sand as deeply as is possible when accompanying a 2-year-old, hiked through the gardens and grabbed some lunch. 

On the way back we saw the gardens of the Imperial Palace where Max ran into a tree and scraped his nose while chasing a girl.  Then he crashed in the stroller and got an hour of shut-eye while we made our way back to the hotel to grab our bags and cabbed it to the train station. We made our train with only a few minutes to spare but once on board it was pretty smooth all the way back to Tokyo, a trip that lasts just about 2.5 hours on the shinkansen (bullet train).

Safety-conscious Japan

The Sign

and...

the train

Hakone: Naked onsen pictures

Ha ha. Just wanted to get your attention with a title. No naked pictures here, although we did partake of the hotel's onsen. Fed by natural hot springs, the onsen experience is perhaps more interesting than the trip we took itself to Hakone, about and hour and a half west and south of Tokyo and the site of a big volcanically created lake, steaming sulphur mountains, more soba than you'd ever want to eat, and lots of hot springs.  

We had so-so weather, clouds, a bit of rain, patches of sun. We took a trip on a "pirate ship" (don't ask me why) across Lake Ashi and ascended up a series of cable cars to the sulphur gas spewing mountainsides. I was woefully underdressed. (Rich neglected to tell me that we were going up a mountain.) So we didn't venture out to the slopes of the mountain where you can sample "black" eggs. I guess the eggs are buried in the ground and are cooked and they turn black.  

My favorite part was the toy museum that had great old-fashioned toys (lots of vehicles) from a collection of a Japanese man who - well, loved to collect toys. There was also an amazingly pristine Cadillac we saw in the hotel parking lot. The body of this car was so close the ground, I can't imagine how one can drive it. It was stunning.

But back to the onsen. The baths are single-sex so one proceeds to the men's or women's "locker room" and undresses. We actually donned yukata (light cotton robes) for the walk from our room, down the elevator and to the onsen. Once inside you strip and put your clothes in a little basket and then walk to the washing off room. At this particular hotel, there were about 20 washing stations, each with it's own stool, spigot and hand-held shower. It was a good thing the room was very steamy - it made being naked a bit more comfortable.  

At the washing stations, you vigorously wash your entire body with the provided soaps and shampoo and rinse thoroughly. Then you proceed to the baths. I opted for the outdoor baths. So you go outside and brace yourself for the cold air, and then step slowly into the bath. It can be pretty hot. From then on, it's like being in a hot tub but the water is supposedly full of healthy minerals. Being outside is lovely, as you can imagine, gazing up at the starts through the tops of the trees.

My dear husband took Max both nights of our stay and his comment after the pre-bedtime soak was, "I hope you appreciate how UN-relaxing that was."  Something about chasing a naked two-year old across wet slippery stones...

Any guilt I might have had was easily wiped away with memories of my nearly 24/7 solo care of Max for the past 3 weeks.

Rich and Max on the cable car

Steaming sulpher on the mountainside. Yes, it was smelly.

Heather and Max on the "pirate ship" crossing Lake Ashi

Rich outside of the Hakone Toy Museum

The Caddy outside the hotel

Get up duck!; International Day at Preschool

Blogger is not letting me upload video so please check out the newest Max video "Get up duck!" and "International Day at Preschool" accessible in the "moving pictures" sidebar.  

Playgrounds and apple pie

We spent last Saturday afternoon at a nearby park. It was Rich's first weekend off in three weeks and it was just nice to relax together. It was warm in the sun and Max had a blast with his friend Tamano. Afterwards we went to a coffee shop for apple pie.  And it wasn't half bad!