We had a test run of the video chat set up – I sat in the living room and they were in the office, giggling and running to and fro in amazement to the whole operation. I hope they keep that enthusiasm when I have been gone for a few weeks.

It has been raining today, bringing a certain amount of homeliness to the house. The blinds are all open and the views are just dazzling. I love those few minutes after a mild shower, when the sun seems to peek through the clouds, but ever so slightly, enough to make everything bright and colorful, without actually shining down. I dont know why it happens, but its breath taking.

Do you like it too?

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What is it she is after, you may ask. Well, nothing fancy really, nothing that you cant find online. I am after:

memory card reader – without cables, because I am carrying enough cables as it is;

battery charger – with no cables, as light as possible and takes not a whole day to charge the batteries

See!
So off I went to the biggest and “best” stores in the city. Complete waste of time. I am not happy and think its about time someone opens a store for portable shit, especially since this is what most people do nowadays – live a portable life and want things at their fingertips.

Other than that, my preparations are going well. I am sure I am forgetting something, but since I didnt keep a list of my “things to do” as they were coming to my pretty head, now I am not sure. Maybe its for the best.

The midwife had a visit today and all is well. The man is growing nicely and says he cant wait to go on a trip – like mother like son. He has been kicking up a storm and even gave his big sister a good kicking the other night, which brought that comment from her:
“I wish I remembered what it was like when I was in there…”

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I did spend the morning in the city, fixing sandals, wasting almost an hour waiting at the bank for some measly cash in Yen and Euros – it was high season they say, lots of demand for those services. Then why was there a free bank teller seat right next to the only one opened to serve us, eager international customers? But, I  have given up on expecting reasonable behavior from banks.

The delay pushed my lunch right into the lunch of all those poor 9 to 5 people, which meant that a simple sandwich purchase took almost as long as growing all the produce for it. I managed to spend some more money in between, which might become a habit in the next 2 months. Keep it quiet though, Mr Blab doesnt have to know.

Spent the afternoon dealing with Dell, not how I planned it to. But at least I got the mouse sorted and its ready to work for me while away.

I had promised the girls we will do some pictures of us, so we have some for when I am away and even though I really didnt feel like it, I set it all up. It turned out heaps of fun as usual. I have some fun loving family, thank goodness, and I love them to bits. They make me so happy, most of the time…well, lets leave it at the goo goo gaa gaa stage and talk about the other times later.

Here is our Girls’ Team in our glory. Not the most creative shots, but keep in mind I had to set the whole thing up, put the camera on a tripod and ask Mr Blab to just press the button every once in awhile. The girls also took turns doing that important job and I think they did a bit better, but again, dont tell him that or he may refuse to be a button pusher again.

Is this happiness or what?

No, I had nothing more important to do than goof off with the kids.
What trip?

Goo Goo Gaa Gaa…whooshy gaga…

Crap! There are things to be done..

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The whole being away from the family part has hit me like a ton of bricks tonight. I guess it was inevitable and I was just waiting for the moment to happen, but it sucks never the less.

The day was crazy a bit and lots of running around, chores, tasks and whatnots. I managed to take the girls out to a local garden shop and cafe place for some hot chocolate and cakes and scones. That was all yummy and the garden part was fun to explore.

Dinner, as ordered by the big sister and movie night as usual on Saturdays – big comfy pad in front of the TV, comforter and huge bowl of freshly popped popcorn. A little fella jumping around and “flying” on your knee form time to time. Bliss!
Cuddles for good night and some made up songs about two little girls/bears/butterflies followed by plethora of “I love you more”s…all this leaves this poor soul with a few trickling tears in the dark, stroking the head of a sleeping girl.

I will miss them so much.

And I still havent packed.

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It has been sunny and pleasant since the morning. A wonderful send off and a great time to be running around the house like nuts trying to get things sorted. But thats what happens when you leave things till the very end.

The girls and I made a big map of the world and a little airplane with a crazy long haired rabbit on it and they can ‘travel’ with me around the world, updating the map as I go. Very exciting for the little fellas.

So what does one do on the day of their departure? I tried to sleep in, but couldnt. Had some coffee and procrastinated some. Then laundry was in order, cause its not fun to travel with stinky clothes, especially if it can be avoided. Doing a map and plane for the kids. Throwing some stuff on the designated pile area for the suitcase as they come to my head and I remember things. Computer crap needs to be sorted and prepared, as Mr. Blab is not good at it at all – eg. make sure our video calls are set up and ready to go. Documents, tickets, maps, reservations and money all set up and ready to go. My backpack padded and set up for the camera and gazillion tons of technology I will be carting around…

Subway lunch delivered by Mr.Blab – wonderful work, honey.

I need to do some grooming as well, so I feel lovely in my cramped seat on the plane. So that is the next step – bathroom, here I come.

Yes, I still havent packed.

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After a hectic day (when will I learn to do ahead?), I am pretty much packed and ready. I am wiped and ready for sleep, which is probably a good thing.

Be good, listen to the one above your shoulders and I will see you from Japan!

What the hell am I doing?!

…

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The send off was hard.
All went great, we even got a Costanza parking spot, right in front of the gate for checking in – I kept on saying “someone stop us!”. It is rather rare to get a good spot at the airports.
Very few people at the check in and that was sweet and easy.

Then it was time to search out for the promised hot chocolate. I even ordered a fancy coffee of some sort with whipped cream on top. That went well with the kids and Mr.Blab enjoyed his ice chocolate.

Off to the newsagent to kill some more time. A nice area with four little cube stools provided the perfect spot to read the kids their ‘bedtime stories’. They picked a few from the selections and there was even a story about a poo and one of the animals ended up in one.

It was time to say our good byes…not easy. Big sister already had tears in her eyes and mine were not far behind. She really had some crying to do, my wonderful little treasure. Which of course didnt help my matters. Mr. Blab tried to be strong, but didnt work. The little one asked me: “whats with that?” pointing at my tears. And later on “why are you crying?”. Thankfully she didnt quite grasp what was happening, although I think at the end she kind of sensed something was out of the ordinary.

Hard part. Really hard.

I am not a pretty crier. I get red puffy eyes and nose. The skin around my eyes ends up with red splotches, like a terrible reaction to my toxic tears. So that is how I looked going through customs and security. I wondered if the passport checking guy will double take on the photo, but thankfully all went smoothly.

Lift off was on time. Few more quiet tears, only because I am a hormonally disturbed pregnant woman… I am smelling the food is on its way…

___________

“Would you like roast beef or Japanese…”

I didnt even hear the rest of the option. Japanese something it is! I love how they try to serve something from the country where the flight is to. I wonder if on my way to Amsterdam, they will serve pot cake. I wonder.

It turned out to be a lovely Japanese chicken curry with salad. The green tea was delicious too.
8 out of 10

As soon as the dreaded tray is taken off my hands, I am off to lala land, hopefully. My eyes are pretty sore at the moment. I hope my girl has gotten to sleep without a hitch.

Laptop and shoes off. Sleep, please take me.

________________

You make the best laying spot you can on the two minuscule seats your luck has provided, put on your eye shades and relax as much as you can. After a bit of time to adjust to the sheer uncomfortable position you needed to twist your body to fit – you drift off to sleep…

WHAAAAAA! WHAAAAA! – caugh – caugh – WHAAAA!

Oh, nooo. There is a baby right on top of your head, screaming theirs off. The sleep you try to hang on for dear life is gone, despite your careful breathing techniques.
That was the end of my perfect ending for the start of this trip. I spent the rest of the night just resting and the poor little fella was crying out every 5 minutes once or twice and then he was quiet.
I think at the end I managed to snooze off for a bit, or at least I hope so.

Scrambled eggs or Japanese breakfast?
You know the drill by now.

Soy Glazed Salmon with Sesame Rice

The bun was a sweet one with some fruit inside and the fish was a bit sweeter than I would have liked it, but the whole thing was very pleasant.
7 out of 10

43 minutes to Destination.

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Wonderfully clean toilet with a baby seat nearby, for parents with kids; foaming soap and automatic water sink that actually works; a concoction that you put your hands in to dry and actually works; flowers and vending machines just a few meters from the gate – this is the first I saw of this place and I liiiiked.

Security and customs check went quickly and painlessly. I was electronically fingerprinted for the first time, probably because I am flying on the new microchiped passport. Didnt like it one bit. Felt pretty violated actually, but when there is no choice, one just sucks it and moves on.

It felt quite strange when I was out.

Here I am, no clue what, where, how. Thousands of kilometers away from anybody I know. With only an address of the hotel in my bag. What a wonderful feeling. Love traveling! Look and feel like a pile of tired ole bloated dag, but this is tingling.

The train to Tokyo, which is 80km away, is in an hour, so I stopped by at one of those little places with plastic food models infront to grab a coffee and juice and to write a bit. Still no internet connection, so this too shall wait.

Espresso and orange juice – 1,050 Yen.

Need a toilet again. I think I over hydrated myself on the flight

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So the train was right on time and I popped on at my cart – its important to do that, as different carts go to different destinations

The seats were way more comfortable than the plane ones and the ride was very enjoyable. They even bring drinks and snacks. But I had my own.

The ride took about 1.5 hours, but the views were lovely, although cloudy, and I grabbed a quick snooze here and there.

This was all easy peasy so far. But as soon as I stepped into Shinjuku station and I knew my luck has run out. It is the biggest and busiest train station in Japan! My map to the hotel is in Japanese, there are 4 exits…

Read more after the link

I tried to figure it out from the signs in Japanese (as my map is that way) and set off. Went up, went down…went up…walked to where I thought I should, carrying my heavy as a bomb backpack with red shoulders. Had to make sure I am on the right track, cause I wasnt sure I could make my way back from then on and I started point signing with a lady and my unreadable map. Apparently I am on the right way and keep on going that way – point to direction. Ok.

So I get to where the right exit should be. Its on a level under the street, I look for an elevator or something. The first I find is under construction. Off to find something else, cause the stairs are a last option – they looked rather steep and my bags are rather heavy – how the hell did that happen, I barely have any clothes.

So I find a way and go up to street level. Nothing looks like whats on my map. Crap.

I see a lonely old man standing around and try my luck. More signing and huh muhing and he points a finger. Off I go. The place is happening. I just want to throw these bags somewhere, maybe in that ditch there?

And somehow I end up infront of my hotel! On the other side of a busy street. Blah!

Finally I make it through and I am in. Lots of bows and presenting of money with more little bows and I finally get rid of those dreaded bags in my tini tiny room.

Relax a bit, update you guys (I am glad you are reading, cause otherwise I will not be doing this, I will slack for sure). Figure out what to carry on my first outing. Find a proper map in my luggage.

And I am off!

Not quite sure where I am going, but I take a direction and hope for the best. This place is magnificent! So much happening, so many signs your head goes wild. People, people, people. Big crosswalks that come alive as soon as the green pops on.

I know departments stores are a good place to start – easy and all in one place. So I follow the map to this one and go in to explore.

OMG! You girls, this is like nothing I have ever seen. So much choice, so many options, so many different things than I am used to being exposed. I wish I was feeling braver and spunkier to have taken pictures, but maybe next time.

So much stuff that I skipped a few floors to get to the kids one. Good I have a pretty good self control, because you can spend the last cent you have ever made in one of those places. Whatever your heart desires – cute, cutesy, cutable…Boy stuff that is absolutely loooovely. Prams and strollers like out of animation movies, with frills and bows, light as a feather, I even wanted to get one and I am not big on them.

The stationery section was like some dream – precious papers and envelopes of all kinds. Pens that you never would have thought about. WOW!

I did buy a little bag of things for the girls, but I am a human after all.

I was starving by the end of this. Off to see the top floor, supposable food section.

And it was. A quiet mellow place with all kinds of little eateries, meticulously maintained and all with their little specialities shown in front on those amazing plastic models. For which I am so thankful!

I choose a place and was greeted like the queen I am . Its just how they are, they are constantly greeting people around in the shops and restaurant. You know, like on the movies, when a client enters a sushi bar and the whole place goes “#$(#&&#(&%” with smiles – well, its like that.

I take my waitress outside to point to one of the yummy things, not quite sure she understood, but hell, I will eat anything.

The food arrives surprisingly almost exactly as it looks on the front display! Nothing like those burgers that seem to have gotten through the Pull out Ingredients machine, or those Desaturate Color and Minimize in Size ones.

This was sooooooo delicious. Down to the little pickled vegetable in the tiny plate you see up there. The broth of the soup was to die for, so flavorsome. Under the pile of things on the other plate, most of which I am not sure what they where, was rice.

9 out of 10! (I am leaving room for improvement)

The little pots on the table? I tried them all, out of curiosity – red one was soy sauce, yellow one was lemony sauce, green one was a reddish sesame oil of some sort.

My tea was wonderful too – jasmine green tea, if I am not mistaken. Pay my $12, and I am off.

Ended up infront of Yodobashi, one of the big electronics shops here. Had to go in. Your mind boggles at the things they have. The choice! And its crasy full of signs of all kinds, which look quite strange when you dont know what they are saying.

Some more things…

I had to stock up on a few things, so I went into one of the convenience stores for some supplies. Bought a few things I had no idea of what they are (love that!) and on my way back to the hotel.

I was tired and exhausted. The shower in my tiny bathroom was devine and my body was ready for some rest. Thank goodness the TV is all in Japanese, so it only acts like a putter to sleeper than anything else.

Had a great night’s sleep on my funny pillow and now I am ready to go off. It was raining when I got up, so we will see.

7:10am – maybe Ueno? Maybe something else. All my ideas seem to have disappeared. I think I am a bit afraid to get back to the Station – hahaha.

Miss you all, but having a great time. I looooooooove this place!

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I was preparing to venture out into the wet, when the hotel lady caught me, breathing quickly and catching her breath, and smiled at me with an umbrella in hand. I couldnt say no, so few head shakes later I am out under the cover of my see through brella.

Its amazing how everyone had one. It was like a see of umbrellas out there and nobody forgot theirs. I didnt see one poor soul running around like a nut, thinking they can avoid getting wet. And all the umbrellas were moving like a symphony, trying to protect their owners from the rain coming from various directions – lean left, lean right…bring it lower. Professionals.

So in honor of my mortifying initial experience at Shinjuku Station, I decided it will be best if I go at peak hour – you know, getting back on the horse and all that! Haha!

I get down to the station and start composing myself, which is hard, as the place is like a mad house, people running around in droves, from left and right, I think a few from the top.

I find the machines and try to figure them out, which is proving hard as those same people come and go as fast as you can blink, buying their own tickets. I dont want to stay in the way of their obviously important business. But I need time to figure the unknown machine out!

I see a ticket office and figure I better buy a day ticket and save myself the machine with weird writings. I attempt to do so, but the man across me speaks not a word English. I give up and move to the next opening. That lovely man understood what I meant and I had in my hand a wonderful day ticket. I wanted to glue it to my hand.

Now the fun part – figuring out how to get to the right line (I think there are 4 running through and the place is like a termite mound, tunnels and levels and whatever your head can think of). The mounds of people are running around and you can barely slow down to figure out signs and think.

I find the line, get through and then whoosh with the people to the stop. There are lots of people! The trains are so long that when they arrive, they do it with full speed and only start to slow down a bit after that.
Doors open, piles of people coming out – pushing, shoving, whatever works. Then its time to get in. I am one of the last to step on and then I feel the push of the people behind me – we are squeezed like sardines (with no sauce). You cant fit a thing anymore – doors close. Complete silence! Air is fresh, mood is calm and you can just hear the lovely voice of the automatic announcer coming through. There are two screens on top of the door – one is TV, which has no sounds, but subtitles. The other is the information one, which is letting you know the next stop and gives updates of delays across the system and the reason for it, if there is one.

I am taking it all in. Wondering what happens at the next stop, whether I will be spit out or I will be able to continue on my way…

The train stops and people squeeze through one by one and more come in, but I somehow managed to stick around.

I make it through Shibuya Station and when I get out, I just wished I had my camera out of the bag, but just couldnt stop to do that. I tried standing next to a column, to be out of the way and not be swept with the crowds, but to no avail. Finally I find a spot next to the elevator and stayed there until the crowds were gone. Quickly got the camera out and waited for the next train – no more than 5min away.

You know you want some!

Shibuya – “ground zero for Tokyo youth culture”.

Its still early and almost nothing is opened yet, so I go in search of a coffee. I walked some and passed a Starbucks as I didnt want to go there, I was looking for a more traditional place, but since I wanted to keep under the roof of the mall I was in and couldnt find anything else opened I went back.

Sat down and flipped through my map and Lonely Planet guide, as I was not prepared for the area much. A bit of people watching too, as I sat right at the window.

Then I was off.

Shibuya Crossing:

Just outside of the station is the Hatchiko statue, which is the name of the exit too. A very popular meeting spot of the locals.

“In the 1920s a professor who taught at what is now Tokyo University kept a small dog named Hachiko. Hachiko accompanied the professor to Shibuya station every morning, then returned in the afternoons to await the professor’s arrival. One spring day in 1925, the professor died of a stroke while at the university and never came home. Hachiko continued to turn up at the station daily until his own death 10 years later. The dog’s faithfulness touched the locals, who built a statue to honour his memory in the place where he died”

Then I walked a bit and found myself the Loft…where I spent some money on the first floor and then some more on the second. Bad place!

To avoid the dripping umbrella’s mess, the clever Japanese have provided people with this wet umbrella covering bag on the front step of the shops. You push your brella in the hole, which makes it push through a bag and when you pull it out, its nice and covered. Easy!

Respect!

Walking down some more I see this girl pop out of one of those shops that go to who knows where under the ground. I decide to go and check it out. And take a sneaky picture for you…

You cant try everything in a shop. I was allowed to try a dress kind of top, but not the stretchy, t-shirt like ones. This was all explained in a half sign, half broken English kind of communication.
You take your shoes off to get into the dressing room and are given a head cover thing you put to avoid destroying the clothes with your makeup. Do they think of everything?!

I get away with one top.

More walking around and looking and I steer a bit away from the bustle of the main streets and find myself a small place for lunch. It has a little window for take away food too, but I am going in. Its pretty small, but impeccable as usual. Big stones walls, Japanese lamps and wood around. The place is full of suits and I am the only woman. I am seated and I point at one of the meals. While waiting I observe the dudes and what they do with those new sauces and condiments on the table.

My meal arrives – yummy miso soup with tiny opened muscles on the bottom, an eggy kind of concoction in a small bowl, which was the consistency of creme caramel, but savory with mushrooms and prawn, the pickled veggetables (eaten first) and my ‘cutlets’ with heap of shredded lettuce and rice.

I pour the sauces as guided by the strange men and then open a little suspicious bag with yellow stuff inside. It is very nice spicy, almost wasabi mixed with mustard sauce. I dunk my cutlet things in it. Yumm.
The battered things were – soft pork ones, two huge prawns and two very interesting extra soft ones, which fell apart as soon as I tried to pick them up. I liked them best. I wish I knew what they were.

Since I couldnt whip my big camera in the place, or at least I was not comfortable to, here is the meal as it appears in front, out of plastic:

More walking around. Went up to Tower Records bulding, which is 7 levels of music, record, book store. More walking. Walked through a few floors of 109-2, which is supposed to be one of those funky, Shibuya youth places. That is where I saw a blinged up Hello Kitty bicycle. And more bling for just about anything you can think of. The place is set up with numerous little shops, unlike department stores. I got another top here. Couldnt finish going through it, because time was running out and i wanted to make another stop for the day.

Just under the station was running the Tokyo Food Show! Of course, right after I ate. This was a feast for the senses. All kinds of food – french and whatnot, but I loved the Japanese ones the most.

Fancy some cute fruit?

How about $150+ for a box of cherries or $210 for two melons? But they look perfect, admit it!

No?

How about some individually wrapped potatoes, carrots or anything else?

Oh, you are no fun.

Before I left I got a quick box of interesting looking rice things for a snack later. I just couldnt leave without anything. If my bag was not full of kid presents I would have been getting more things.

Just a flower shop in the underground subway area.

And back to my friend – the subway

All goes smoothly. My trusty one day ticket saves me the machines and I go through as though I am a local. I need to go off to another station and catch another line from there.

No problems. I am in Ebisu and on my way to Hibiya line.

But wait! My ticket is a no go. Damn ticket. The dude behind the counter shakes a finger and points to my favorite ticket machine. Aparently the ticket is not as good as I thought, its only for the main JR line. Oh shunks! I try to look for help in him, but he just points to the machine and says “ticket!”. I have no choice, I go. I know the fare, I have figured it out by the limited amount of information provided on the boards, the problem is there are no guides how to get the ticket on the machine. I decide to plop the coins in and see what happens. The fare is in…nothing happens…I press “1 adult”…nope…some other button…nada…I press the thing on the screen that says 160 something…voila! My ticket is printed! I am so happy I want to jump around. Proud I go through and thank the uncaring dude for forcing me to deal with the machine.

Arrive at Roppongi, busting for the loo.

Here is what you get at the station.

Warmed up seat, the kid seat I mentioned before and few buttons for fun. My favorite is the “flushing sound”. LOL.

Off I go to see the Hills.

I go in that blobby building, buy myself a ticket for the Sky Deck, The Mori Art Museum and the exhibition of BMW’s painted by famous artists, like Roi Lichtenstein.

But suddenly I feel very light. I have forgotten the umbrella and my one great map at the fancy toilet. Run baby run! See this pregnant woman with a huge backpack on her back fly like a bird (well, in all honestly, I probably looked nothing like that).
They were there, and I was not all nice and sweaty.

Up I go on the elevator until my ears start popping.

There is also a photo exhibition at the place.

If you really really look…and imagine there were no clouds.. you will see in the background Mt.Fuji. Unfortunately the part of the mountain that is visible is not the top, but you get the idea.

I make a cheesy picture in one of those automated machines and visit the museum and the BMW exhibition.

By now I am wasted. My legs feel like lead will be a lovely weight if an option. I drag myself to the bottom floor and find the nearest place with coffee. I fancy looking French patisserie, where you get a special tray and your own tongs and pick your choices. I had my snack from the Food Show in Shibuya, but grabbed one thing and a coffee.

Got outside and collapsed on the chair.

That pastry was divine!

Then walked around Roppongi some more, but didnt enjoy it much. I guess it was too touristy and westernized for my liking. Plus all the stuff had English with it. What fun is that?

Got back to the hotel without a hitch on the Oedo line. Rested and went on a quick explore and dinner in Shinjuku.

Too tired to finish the day for you. But I guess I wrote enough already. Enjoy while you can, cause I might fade.

Collapsing…

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The Trip Post tags: roppongi hills, shibuya, tokyo

Snaps & Blabs