Weekend in Nilkko

Well this weekend is the last weekend that Ricky and I were both not going to be working on Saturday and Sunday so to celebrate we decided to spend the weekend in Nikko. Nikko is a fairly historic town about 3 hours north of Sakura. We left on Saturday morning and took the train up. It was colder there, and they was still snow on the ground even though it was sunny the entire weekend. We stayed at a famous Western style hotel that opened in the mid 1800's called the Nikko Kanaya Hotel. It was a huge, beautiful hotel and I loved it. It reminded me of the hotel from the shining, and it even had old black and white photo's of fancy dress balls from the 20's up on the walls. Our room was really nice too, it had beds with real mattresses! and the best part was the big windows with a beautiful view of the mountains, the river, and the garden below.

On Saturday, after we settled into our hotel, we did some sightseeing. First we saw the Sacred Bridge, and then we walked along the river and found some smaller shrines and a huge graveyard. Things in Nikko close really early so afterwards we just took a walk around the part of town where we were staying and the decided to eat dinner at the hotel. Dinner was delicious. They had a French restaurant in the hotel and I ate veal cordon-bleu style and Ricky had pork milanesa. After dinner we relaxed in a private onsen that was in the hotel and then went for drinks in the bar there. We went to bed pretty early after watching Star Wars I in Japanese (hey it is good in any language).

Sunday we got up early and went for breakfast at the bakery that was owned by our hotel. We took a bus across the famous zig-zag road across the mountains that took us to the Kegon Waterfalls. You take an elevator over 100m up through the bedrock to get to the bottom of the falls. The day was warm and sunny and the falls were beautiful, unfortunately we couldn't stay long because we needed to catch the bus back to the Toshogu shrines. After taking the bus back across the other zig-zag road we made our way to the various shrines that Nikko is famous for. Toshogu is the most famous of the shrines and it is known for the 3 monkeys (hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil), the 3 Buddhas, the sleeping cat, and the crying dragon.

Overall it was an awesome trip and we were both very sad to leave Nikko, especially the hotel. We will definitely be going back!

Ricky's 1st Post!

Hello everyone! I know all you followers are dying to read about our new adventures. This is actually my first blog post! So tell me how you like it or if you have any suggestions! Here is Anpanman which is a very famous cartoon character for children here:Just thought you'd like to know...

Well this past weekend was quite eventful. On Saturday we went to Costco. Yes, it was amazing. We bought even more taco seasoning, bread, black beans, re-fried beans (we like fiber), Doritos Hint of Lime chips (to go with the beans) and English black tea. It was a good trip and well worth the trek there.

Sunday was a very happy day for Erin and I...we received a bit of heaven
above in the shape of a cat. We named her Nezumi (meaning "mouse" in Japanese). We decided to change the name from her previous misnomer, Birdie. Which, if you ask me, is a silly name. She was quick to warm up to us but recently she has been a bit chatty at night. But we can see the potential and she will make a good substitute for Leloo. We are fostering her for now and she is up for adoption at www.japacancatnet.com.

Monday was also an interesting day. Erin, Joe, Jenn, Sean and I all went to a historical town named Sawara. Many of the old houses and buildings have been persevered; which is uncommon here as older
houses around 50 years old or so are usually torn down. It was neat to see all the old style homes. The town also has a nice river running through it. After a hasty lunch, we all departed and went off to work.

Today has been somewhat boring. I was going out on my bike to explore more of Sakura but it seems that the Good-Luck-Riding-a-Bike God was not with me since my tire tube exploded when I accidentally ran over a pothole. It is going to cost about ¥2,500 (around $28US). It was an awkward effort trying to get the bike shop mechanic to understand what I was wanting. But everything was figured out and I am getting my bike back in about 15 minutes from now. Good thing the shop is about 20 steps from the apartment...

Well I hope you enjoyed my first post and we will be sure to update more often. Tomorrow is Erin's birthday so I am sure we will have fun pictures to come.

Shopping and Earthquakes

Well so far we have experienced two earthquakes in Japan. They were both in the morning, but the first one was really weak. I thought Ricky was shaking in the bed and I was about to tell him to stop, but then I realized it was just an earthquake. The second one was this morning and it was stronger than the first. It woke us up... and then rocked us back to sleep:)

This weekend was awesome. We went shopping at Carrefour, which is a french supermarket. It was really nice. We ate Italian food. All you can eat pasta, salad, drinks, bread, and desserts!! yummy yummy. Then we bought some taco shells and taco seasoning, crusty bread, and two kinds of cheese! Ricky also found two nice work shirts. Today we went to LalaPort which is a HUGE mall. It was really really nice with tons of stores. I got lots of work clothes, two pairs of pants, two shirt, two sweaters, a cardigan, three pairs of socks, and an undershirt. Ricky got some work pants, socks, and work shoes FINALLY. Sucessful day overall.