Day 7- Day Trip to Nara.

"Why do you have to point out how stupid everyone is all the time?"

We wake up super early for breakfast. My French toast is weird. Take 8:50 train to Nara.

Loud ass Americans spoil ride by talking loudly and using excessive profanity non-stop for the entire ride. When we get off the train French Boy and I ice grill the dude that was talking the loudest. If only facial muscles could kill we would both be in a Japanese prison right now.

We walk to the park tourism office to grab a map. Its so damn far that I have to stop for a break and buy a refreshingly delicious peach soda with ice out of a vending machine before we arrive. The guide books never tell you that every site is a 25 minute walk uphill.

We finally reach the tourism office and the people are SO SO SO nice. And two volunteer guides speak English. They offer to give us a free guided tour of the entire park, but we are anti-social and want to wander around at our own pace.

So we set out to find the big Buddha. There are deer EVERY freaking where begging for food and scaring the hell out of unsuspecting kids.

Also, did you know that deer make weird ass squeaky noises like squeeze toys?

I am very much freaked out by this.

Finally we make it to the Zen garden.

Why the hell do I keep paying to see gardens when I don’t really like nature that much?

At least we enjoy the enormous fish in the tiny ponds.

We wander around until I am bored to tears. Then continue on to the big Buddha.

Its freakishly large and calm. The place is a madhouse though. French Boy takes a few pictures. I’m too tired to care.

My feet hurt. I sit and stare at other people trying to get photos of the Buddha.

We had around the back of the Buddha and watch people, mostly children squeeze through the whole in the temple column to get enlightenment.

Some skinny woman crawls through and everyone claps when she makes it. Its hilarious.

We head back to the train station---30 minute walk. Luckily downhill now. We stop and look at Souvenir stands. The little old Japanese sales guy sees me looking at headbands with the Japanese flag and some writing and says: “You no want. That is for Japanese kamikaze!” Then he tries to sell me a deer antler head band instead. I buy neither.

We finally make it to the train just in time. Arrive in Kyoto in time for dinner ---sushi again! Then realize that there is another sushi restaurant just opposite the one we’ve eaten at twice.

We should have tried the other for variety---but we don’t care we’re tummies filled and we’re all sushied out now. We try to find an internet café with no luck. So we take the bus to the shopping district.

I buy pink geisha socks and then we have coffee. I shop for a hat. The Japanese love hats. See I’m already almost Japanese! I can’t find a hat that’s right for me. Blah! We find a 100 yen shop by accident. I buy 800 yen worth of crap and then forget immediately what I bought. We catch the bus back to the hotel then fall asleep

Day 8 - Back to Tokyo!

"I just don't know what I'm supposed to be."

We wake up and catch the early train back to Tokyo! Get off in Ginza and start walking to our hotel. We drag our luggage past some of the fanciest stores on earth. I am not thrilled. I feel like a dirty backpacker. This is not baller!

It just seems wrong to be dragging our suitcases past Harry Winston. I'm too old for this shit. I inform French Boy of my displeasure and he rolls his eyes.

Arrive at hotel---room isn’t ready so we drop off luggage and head straight for Harajuku!

We get off the train and its already a madhouse. Freaky people everywhere. Its so crowded and loud and colorful. Its like Halloween for adults---but every weekend!

We make it to the park where most of the Goth girls and boys are. Its nuts! Everyone is trying to snap photos and everyone is blocking each others shots.

The girls are all pretending to not want to be photographed, but obviously they have come to be seen and looked at and pose for photos.

We even see one boy all dolled up to look like a girl. Its sad and funny all at once.

We quickly tire of all the ridiculous voyeurism and leave. We head back to Akihabara for electronics again which is TEN times more packed on the weekend than on our first visit.

The streets are closed to vehicle traffic and there is a carnival like atmosphere.

I sit in the “wife waiting area” while he shops.

My feet are killing me. I read the English daily newspaper---my feet still hurt.

Later while French Boy shops I stand outside absolutely mesmerized and watch hundreds of people walk by.

We head back to the hotel to rest a bit then we catch a train to Shinjuku for dinner.

Colors! I can’t explain it, but I have a major crush on Tokyo at night. It gives me butterflies. I never get enough of the colors and lights.

We walk around Shinjuku and get lost on the back alleys where the nudie bars are. We finally find a restaurant and eat Chinese food. Each booth has tiny flat screen TV showing movie trailers---now that’s baller! We watch TV and munch.

I love Japan.

French Boy decides he hates the little dumpling things that I always order for dinner. I still love them.

After dinner we catch the train home. We decide we’re too old for Shinjuku.

Too many screaming drunk people, too much filth and debauchery…and that was just a Sunday night!

Day 9 - Fun and Sun in Tokyo

"Let's never come here again because it will never be as much fun. "

We go to the beach at Odaiba and it is unexpectedly fun. The weather is perfect and the island is practically deserted.

We see a cat store where you can pay to go play in a furnished apartment that is filled with cats.

We have lunch at the top of the shopping plaza. The Indian buffet is good. We can no longer stomach Japanese food. Luckily there are tons of international restaurants everywhere.

After lunch we window shop. Later we have crepes. I don’t like crepes.

We split up. French Boy goes to look at the Toyota show room. I get lost in Venus Fort which is decorated to look like Venice, Los Vegas, the mall of America, and Disney land all chopped up in a blender. I cant find anything in my size. So I end up buying fancy Japanese shoe laces for my new converse then meet French Boy for the train ride home.

We hurry back to the hotel and change clothes for dinner with Scott and Julie and Yuji. Yuji picks a really nice restaurant with yummy veggies then takes us to a bar where every bartender has their own drink and when you order it they come to you and make it for you.

Yuji explains that this type of bar is quickly replacing the Geisha culture. Very strange but fun and interesting-----and expensive. We eventually leave and try to find a more affordable bar, but we give up and catch the last train back to the hotel. We are so tired we cant think straight.

Day 10 - In Tokyo

"I don't want to leave."

"So don't. Stay here with me. We'll start a jazz band."

We try to find galleries in Ginza but were up to early and everything is closed until 11AM. We wander around and window shop. Its a swank neighborhood and clearly we are underdressed, but we are too tired to care now.

We finally go into a few galleries. Nothing fabulous, but some nice things. One gallery owner offers us tea----it turns out to be poison tea! We drink it out of respect for our hosts. I almost gagged. I literally have to hold my breath to finish it. French Boy finishes his in one gulp.

After that I’m too scared to go to more galleries for fear they will give us tea too. So we went to the Sony building and sampled noise canceling earphones---TOO COOL! I want one of those electronic book prototypes---oh and the home theater system. Coooool!

After Sony we hopped a train to Ikebura so French Boy could check out the more cars at the Toyota showroom. I sit in the waiting area and have a soda while he shops for cars we will never buy…and aren’t even available in Europe anyway. The security guard lady chats with me to practice her English. These people are so nice! I love Japan! French Boy finally returns with 30 kilos of car catalogs. I roll my eyes then sigh and we leave.

After we go shopping----I try to convince French Boy to buy a man purse. But he can’t find one he likes. We visit all 7 floors of the Tokyo Hands store. Neither of us buys anything in the end.

Eventually we go out for pizza and it actually doesn’t suck. We order a pitcher of whisky sours and get a little drunk. I’m sad to leave tomorrow. I love it here. I loath the idea of going back to France with all the rude dirty people. People in Japan are Niiiiiiice. I haven’t had to use my middle finger in 10 whole days.

Day 11 - Last Day in Tokyo

"We have to first get out of this bar, then the hotel, then the city, and then the country. Are you in or you out? "

We make the last day count. We have a great breakfast then head to the Mori Museum. The City View platform is spectacular even though we can’t see Mount Fuji because of the smog. We totally enjoy the 360 degree view of the city. Tokyo seems to go on forever. And it seems so still and quiet from 52 floors up.

We’re goofing around with our camera and an 80 year old man offers to take our photo. He doesn’t push the button or the picture didn’t work, but sometimes it is the thought that counts. I love Japan.

We have coffee in the Viewing platform coffee shop. We sit on the floor booth with our backs pressed against the window glass. French Boy is too freaked out to let his back touch the window so he sits sideways. I laugh.

We head into the Bill Viola exhibit. It is spectacular. Or maybe I am just moved by standing alone in darkened rooms. French Boy loves it. It’s all high def TV screens and edited digital video---right up his alley. It really is the perfect end to our trip. We say goodbye to Tokyo from the top of the Museum and then head back to the hotel to collect our luggage and head to Narita. It’s the first time I am honestly sad to leave a place that I have never lived. We aren’t on the plane home and I’m already missing it.

Sushi go round.

French boy hates this video because I filmed him with a mouth full of tuna, but I just think it's fun to watch your dinner fly by.

I've finally edited , color corrected, and uploaded all of our Japan photos. It took 5 hours!

I should regain enough strength to actually post them here within the next 2 days. Cross your fingers for me.

All sushi'd out.

French boy and I made it home from Japan safe and sound.

We had such a great time. I can't even express how much fun we had! It was more fun than we could have ever imagined. It was worth every penny we spent and then some. Screw New York......I can't wait to get back to Japan. (Wait. Did I really just say that?) Anyhooo. I will try to break up postings and photos about our trip into 4 or 5 posts. I'll have to keep it short or I will wear myself out trying to describe everything.

But untill I get a chance to sort through our 600 photos I thought I'd post this hilarious article about that I found on Yahoo this morning about "Paris Syndrome". French boy and I definitely suffered from a little bit of it as soon as we landed at CDG in Paris.

A little excerpt from the article:

Around a dozen Japanese tourists a year need psychological treatment after visiting Paris as the reality of unfriendly locals and scruffy streets clashes with their expectations, a newspaper reported on Sunday. "A third of patients get better immediately, a third suffer relapses and the rest have psychoses," Yousef Mahmoudia, a psychologist at the Hotel-Dieu hospital, next to Notre Dame cathedral, told the newspaper Journal du Dimanche.

Already this year, Japan's embassy in Paris has had to repatriate at least four visitors -- including two women who believed their hotel room was being bugged and there was a plot against them. Previous cases include a man convinced he was the French "Sun King", Louis XIV, and a woman who believed she was being attacked with microwaves, the paper cited Japanese embassy official Yoshikatsu Aoyagi as saying.

"Fragile travellers can lose their bearings. When the idea they have of the country meets the reality of what they discover it can provoke a crisis," psychologist Herve Benhamou told the paper.The phenomenon, which the newspaper dubbed "Paris Syndrome", was first detailed in the psychiatric journal Nervure in 2004.

C'est triste, mais c'est drole, non? C'est "driste"!

Japan write up coming soon!

Gon' ta Tokyo!

Well, tomorrow is the big day. After months of half-assed planning we're finally going to Tokyo. I only know how to say "Arigato" but I already forgot what it means. Favorite French boy and I plan on getting hopelessly lost and confused & then drowning our sorrows in a case of Sapporro. Anyway, worse case scenario I come back dressed like these three girls.




Oh, who am I kidding? I should be so lucky.
In any case, I'll back in a few weeks with photos and stories.

Siyanara!

Almost Home Sweet Home!

So if you will recall from one of my earlier posts, we bought a kick-ass new apartment earlier this year. The only problem is that is hasn't been built yet. We had been getting a bit anxious over the last few weeks since we hadn't seen any progress being made over the summer at the building site. Finally, My Favorite French Boy called the building company Friday to ask when they would start construction. The building manager replied "uhm, didn't the notary tell you we already started building? The foundation is almost finished." Well, of course we didn't believe him. French constructions are famous for being months behind schedule, so we decided to drive to Metz to see it with our own four eyes.

Much to our surprise, the parking lot and old dirty garages had been cleared way. And what do ya know-- they had actually started the building after all!

I let out some baby pig-like squeals as I jumped out of the car to go take a closer look. I've never been so excited to see piles of dirt, concrete, and steel. Frenchboy was pretty happy too.

So now it's more hurry up & wait with our architect. Many decisions to be made. Last night we set up an appointment to order our kitchen.....which the nice sales lady warned us would take nearly 6 months to arrive.

But most importantly, the building manager said the apartment delivery date will be June 2007.

This time next year we will be all moved into our new home! So untill then you will just have to suffer through my weekly moaning and groanings and endless details about the making of the apartment.

I'll try to make it as painless as possible, but I make no promises.