Just out of Erik's mouth:
"It took me 26 years to find you, and 32 years to find this vest."
I'm such a lucky girl. And he's going to be so warm in Ottawa!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
This is too good to not blog about....
We're a bit worried about the cold.
Just out of Erik's mouth:
"It took me 26 years to find you, and 32 years to find this vest."
I'm such a lucky girl. And he's going to be so warm in Ottawa!
Just out of Erik's mouth:
"It took me 26 years to find you, and 32 years to find this vest."
I'm such a lucky girl. And he's going to be so warm in Ottawa!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Also
it snowed today.
I looked out of the window in the middle of one of my classes this morning and there was white stuff falling from the sky. Yuck. It didn't last long, and eventually turned into cold, wet, rain.
Welcome to winter in Paris.
I looked out of the window in the middle of one of my classes this morning and there was white stuff falling from the sky. Yuck. It didn't last long, and eventually turned into cold, wet, rain.
Welcome to winter in Paris.
Le Grand Tasting and Enjoying Paris
Yesterday was the Grand Tasting, a wine tasting event at the Carrousel du Louvre. Being the wine connoisseurs, or perhaps just appreciators, that we are, we of course got tickets to check out the big event with our friends Alex and Marie and Julia and Thomas.
We've been to many wine shows in the past, but this one was different in a couple of important ways. First of all, we actually had to pay to get in. Usually producers just send out free invitations, but this was a slightly 'higher class' event, so there was an entry fee, and it was fairly high (20€). Luckily we found reasonably priced passes online. Secondly, you had to pay a deposit for your glass. Which meant that you got a real wine glass (yay!) but that we couldn't take the glasses home (boo!). Thirdly, this wine show was all about tasting, with very few of the booths actually selling bottles on the premises. It was nice to taste and not feel pressured to buy anything afterwards, and not being able to buy right away forces you to take notes on the wines you really like so that you can remember why you like them, and where you can actually find them.
We really enjoyed our afternoon, and discovered some interesting wines that we will definitely be seeking out, including a great Spanish wine, along with a recommendation for a tapas restaurant, that conveniently serves this wine. We were feeling quite festive, and took the 'scenic' route back to Alex and Marie's afterwards.
And so, without further ado, here are the obligatory pictures:
Group shot, near the end of the afternoon
Alex and Marie get serious about wine
Does this picture require a caption?
Marie and I after she sweet talked Piper Heidsick into serving us the 150€ bottle that they were hiding under the counter. We were actually trying to capture the wine glass chandelier in the background.
For some reason we decided to do a photo shoot in the Carrousel du Louvre after leaving the show. I'll spare you the rest of the many, many more cheesy shots we took there.
Who likes ferris wheels? We do!
Waiting to board, trying to convince the guy to let us into the VIP car.
Inside our little 'gondola'
Alex bought marrons chaudes afterwards, and we all happily caught the metro back to Alex and Marie's to watch the France-Australia rugby match before dancing to 80s tunes and then heading home.
We love Paris.
We've been to many wine shows in the past, but this one was different in a couple of important ways. First of all, we actually had to pay to get in. Usually producers just send out free invitations, but this was a slightly 'higher class' event, so there was an entry fee, and it was fairly high (20€). Luckily we found reasonably priced passes online. Secondly, you had to pay a deposit for your glass. Which meant that you got a real wine glass (yay!) but that we couldn't take the glasses home (boo!). Thirdly, this wine show was all about tasting, with very few of the booths actually selling bottles on the premises. It was nice to taste and not feel pressured to buy anything afterwards, and not being able to buy right away forces you to take notes on the wines you really like so that you can remember why you like them, and where you can actually find them.
We really enjoyed our afternoon, and discovered some interesting wines that we will definitely be seeking out, including a great Spanish wine, along with a recommendation for a tapas restaurant, that conveniently serves this wine. We were feeling quite festive, and took the 'scenic' route back to Alex and Marie's afterwards.
And so, without further ado, here are the obligatory pictures:
Group shot, near the end of the afternoon
Alex and Marie get serious about wine
Does this picture require a caption?
Marie and I after she sweet talked Piper Heidsick into serving us the 150€ bottle that they were hiding under the counter. We were actually trying to capture the wine glass chandelier in the background.
For some reason we decided to do a photo shoot in the Carrousel du Louvre after leaving the show. I'll spare you the rest of the many, many more cheesy shots we took there.
Who likes ferris wheels? We do!
Waiting to board, trying to convince the guy to let us into the VIP car.
Inside our little 'gondola'
Alex bought marrons chaudes afterwards, and we all happily caught the metro back to Alex and Marie's to watch the France-Australia rugby match before dancing to 80s tunes and then heading home.
We love Paris.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Happy France-iversary to Us!
Saturday marked our three year anniversary of living in France. I guess I should maybe be writing this in French, huh?
I can still remember how foreign everything seemed when we first arrived here three years ago. The novelty of buying fresh bread, buying wine for under five euros at the grocery store, and the minuscule elevator that we had in our first building. All things that seem so normal now that I literally have a hard time imagining life without bakeries on every street corner and good wine practically flowing out of the taps. And I actually did a double take when I got in a 'real' elevator at the Gap a while back.
Where we once had difficulty carrying on a conversation with a French person, we now we both speak French more than well enough to get by. Erik often cracks jokes in this crazy language, and has even spent the better part of the weekend reading the beshcerelle. I often find thoughts floating through my head in French, and there are certainly things that I find easier to communicate in French. Funny how our brains work. That being said, I also find myself throwing English words into the middle of sentences unknowingly, simply because they came up faster than the French version.
So far, we haven't done anything special to mark the occasion. I worked at the gym, and Erik spent the day preparing for some courses that he is teaching this week. Pretty exciting. We did go out salsa dancing last night, although it was for a friend's birthday. I'm happy to report that I still have all ten toenails, despite dancing with my lovely husband :).
Today we both worked again (perhaps not the glamorous life you were imagining for two foreigners in Paris) and napped for most of the afternoon. Very productive.
We have some more interesting things lined up for next weekend, I'll be sure to bring the camera and report back.
Dinner's ready, so I should go!
A bientot :)
I can still remember how foreign everything seemed when we first arrived here three years ago. The novelty of buying fresh bread, buying wine for under five euros at the grocery store, and the minuscule elevator that we had in our first building. All things that seem so normal now that I literally have a hard time imagining life without bakeries on every street corner and good wine practically flowing out of the taps. And I actually did a double take when I got in a 'real' elevator at the Gap a while back.
Where we once had difficulty carrying on a conversation with a French person, we now we both speak French more than well enough to get by. Erik often cracks jokes in this crazy language, and has even spent the better part of the weekend reading the beshcerelle. I often find thoughts floating through my head in French, and there are certainly things that I find easier to communicate in French. Funny how our brains work. That being said, I also find myself throwing English words into the middle of sentences unknowingly, simply because they came up faster than the French version.
So far, we haven't done anything special to mark the occasion. I worked at the gym, and Erik spent the day preparing for some courses that he is teaching this week. Pretty exciting. We did go out salsa dancing last night, although it was for a friend's birthday. I'm happy to report that I still have all ten toenails, despite dancing with my lovely husband :).
Today we both worked again (perhaps not the glamorous life you were imagining for two foreigners in Paris) and napped for most of the afternoon. Very productive.
We have some more interesting things lined up for next weekend, I'll be sure to bring the camera and report back.
Dinner's ready, so I should go!
A bientot :)
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Erik's Pot
Before I get into this, please note that 'pot' is pronounced 'po'.
On Wednesday afternoon, Erik threw his much anticipated pot in celebration of the start of his CNRS position.
One pot to go: 8 bottles of Champagne, 4 bottles of white wine, 12 bottles of red, one bottle of rye, 12 Canadian beers, assorted pop and juice, chips, veggies and dips, sliced ham, four kinds of cheese (gorgonzola and mascarpone, goat cheese, comte, brie de meaux), red pepper and goat cheese tarts, rice krispie squares, cheesecake brownies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, grapes and ten baguettes.
Tatiana came and picked us up around noon on Wednesday to transport us and all our goodies out to the ecole. We spent the next couple of hours finding ice, and transforming a conference room into party central.
Around 4:00, the entire lab, about 70 people, showed up to enjoy the celebration. Erik gave a little speech, then the bottles of champagne were popped and the party began.
Pavel graciously brought some smoked pig fat studded with garlic.
The rye whisky was quite popular. All that was left at the end was the purple bag.
The aftermath
The verdict: best pot ever!
On Wednesday afternoon, Erik threw his much anticipated pot in celebration of the start of his CNRS position.
One pot to go: 8 bottles of Champagne, 4 bottles of white wine, 12 bottles of red, one bottle of rye, 12 Canadian beers, assorted pop and juice, chips, veggies and dips, sliced ham, four kinds of cheese (gorgonzola and mascarpone, goat cheese, comte, brie de meaux), red pepper and goat cheese tarts, rice krispie squares, cheesecake brownies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, grapes and ten baguettes.
Tatiana came and picked us up around noon on Wednesday to transport us and all our goodies out to the ecole. We spent the next couple of hours finding ice, and transforming a conference room into party central.
Around 4:00, the entire lab, about 70 people, showed up to enjoy the celebration. Erik gave a little speech, then the bottles of champagne were popped and the party began.
Pavel graciously brought some smoked pig fat studded with garlic.
The rye whisky was quite popular. All that was left at the end was the purple bag.
The aftermath
The verdict: best pot ever!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
The Cave
Ever wonder what all these beautiful Parisian apartments are like down below?
We finally got keys to our landlady's cave (pronounced with a short a, please), and thought you might appreciate seeing just what it's like.
Come on down, and check it out!
It's pretty much as unfinished as you can get.
One long hallway to each side leading to the storage spaces.
The lovely dirt floor.
Did I mention that our cave doesn't have a light? Today we brought down the flashlight, and I got to check it out for the first time.
It's kind of musty smelling, but I have to say, about a thousand times less scary than the basement that we had on Augusta in Toronto. Now that was a disgusting basement! I kind of wish I hadn't thought about it, I'll probably have nightmares now.
The Canned Food Aisle Just Got a Lot More Interesting....
Can you believe that this (minus the veggies):
Confit de canard, cassoulet (white beans, sausage and duck cooked in duck fat) and roasted vegetables.
came from this:
Well, maybe you can, but we were pretty impressed. Sure beats Chef Boyardee! We may have both consumed our yearly recommended intake of duck fat in one meal. The can of confit de canard even recommended that we save all the delicious fat that the duck was conserved in to use when making omelette's, or on toast. Don't worry, we didn't.
And next time, we might restrict ourselves to one duck delight per meal instead of three. Our arteries would probably appreciate it.
Confit de canard, cassoulet (white beans, sausage and duck cooked in duck fat) and roasted vegetables.
came from this:
Well, maybe you can, but we were pretty impressed. Sure beats Chef Boyardee! We may have both consumed our yearly recommended intake of duck fat in one meal. The can of confit de canard even recommended that we save all the delicious fat that the duck was conserved in to use when making omelette's, or on toast. Don't worry, we didn't.
And next time, we might restrict ourselves to one duck delight per meal instead of three. Our arteries would probably appreciate it.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Dinner with Pat and Victor
Of course there's a picture, Joan! :)
On Tuesday night we had dinner with Pat and Victor, friends of Joan and Howard's who were in Paris visiting.
Not having seen them since our wedding, it was nice to catch up with them, and hear about their adventures in Dublin, London and finally Paris. We had a lovely meal at Le Cerisaie, one of our favorite restaurants, just around the tower from us.
On Tuesday night we had dinner with Pat and Victor, friends of Joan and Howard's who were in Paris visiting.
Not having seen them since our wedding, it was nice to catch up with them, and hear about their adventures in Dublin, London and finally Paris. We had a lovely meal at Le Cerisaie, one of our favorite restaurants, just around the tower from us.
Getting Cultured
It was an interesting exhibit, highlighting Japanese design of everyday objects, created by unknown artists, and using traditional techniques. On display were many pieces of pottery, handmade textiles from Okinawa made using palm fibers, and many pieces created using bamboo.
For the Love of Pumpkin
How one can of pumpkin can become two delicious, delicious treats.
First up was this scrumptious pumpkin cake with Jack Daniels soaked raisins and spiked whipped cream. Erik was particularly excited to get to the grocery store and discover that Jack Daniels was on the grocery list, and the feat of him whipping cream with a wire whisk has brought me a little bit closer to my ultimate goal of one day bringing home a stand mixer. Who needs to go to the gym when there is cream to be whipped? :) We had Alex and Marie over for dinner last Saturday, and we had this cake for dessert, but unfortunately we didn't finish it. Which meant that there was lots left over for me to eat with lunch for the next three days.
Luckily the pumpkin cake only called for one cup of pumpkin, and not wanting to let the remaining cup go to waste, I whipped up these pumpkin cookies this morning. I replaced the currants with bourbon soaked golden raisins (yes, I am same girl who used to pick all the raisins out of the cinnamon buns that mom made. Apparently the trick is to soak them in booze.....) and eliminated the pumpkin seeds. I now have a ton of cookies sitting in the kitchen, and the only thing preventing me from eating them all right now is the fact that I'm typing.
First up was this scrumptious pumpkin cake with Jack Daniels soaked raisins and spiked whipped cream. Erik was particularly excited to get to the grocery store and discover that Jack Daniels was on the grocery list, and the feat of him whipping cream with a wire whisk has brought me a little bit closer to my ultimate goal of one day bringing home a stand mixer. Who needs to go to the gym when there is cream to be whipped? :) We had Alex and Marie over for dinner last Saturday, and we had this cake for dessert, but unfortunately we didn't finish it. Which meant that there was lots left over for me to eat with lunch for the next three days.
Luckily the pumpkin cake only called for one cup of pumpkin, and not wanting to let the remaining cup go to waste, I whipped up these pumpkin cookies this morning. I replaced the currants with bourbon soaked golden raisins (yes, I am same girl who used to pick all the raisins out of the cinnamon buns that mom made. Apparently the trick is to soak them in booze.....) and eliminated the pumpkin seeds. I now have a ton of cookies sitting in the kitchen, and the only thing preventing me from eating them all right now is the fact that I'm typing.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Make These Now!
Possibly the easiest cookies I've ever made, and by far the best results I've gotten from cookies baked in our 'not really an oven' oven. Oh, and they taste awesome also!
Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup super chunky peanut butter
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (about 6 ounces)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Mix in chocolate chips. Using moistened hands, form generous 1 tablespoon dough for each cookie into ball. Arrange on 2 ungreased baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
Bake cookies until puffed, golden on bottom and still soft to touch in center, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool completely.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Blindness rewarded?
I went to the eye doctor this morning to get a prescription for new contacts. The last time I bought contacts here I learned that if I had had a prescription, I could have been reimbursed by my private insurance. So off I went to my friendly neighbourhood opthamologist, where I learned that in France, if your eyes are bad enough, you get a special prescription, on a special paper, which allows you to be reimbursed partially by the social security. Apparently if you are myopic enough, it's considered a sort of illness.
I certainly don't consider my poor eyesight to be much of an illness, but I'm not going to complain if two different health insurance plans want to give me money because of it.
I celebrated by buying new boots.
I certainly don't consider my poor eyesight to be much of an illness, but I'm not going to complain if two different health insurance plans want to give me money because of it.
I celebrated by buying new boots.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Dinner at L'Escarbille
Last night we had a very delicious dinner at the one star restaurant in Meudon, L'Escarbille.
On the menu: Entrees of veloute de cresson avec beignets d'huitres (watercress soup with fried oysters) and salade de lentilles avec filet de rouget (lentil salad with rouget filet). Main course was pigeon for Erik (quite tasty!) and lamb for me. For dessert I had a fig tart with amaretto ice cream, and Erik had his all time favorite of tiramisu.
After dinner we went back to Julia and Thomas' apartment for an all important course of digestifs.
Then we came home way too late, and I got up way too early to go to work. Thank goodness for afternoon naps.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Because I've been a bad blogger lately...
Here are some pictures from our Saturday night.
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Anja had a housewarming party, and in true French fashion, posted a little sign in her building to warn her neighbours.
Anja's parents have just recently left, and her dad did some fatherly things around the apartment for her, many of which required the use of tools, which were purchased while they were visiting. The drill, however, did not get used, and as soon as Erik realized it was up for grabs, he was all over it. How often do you get to leave a party with a beer AND a power drill?
See? Life really is better in Paris :)
.JPG)
Anja had a housewarming party, and in true French fashion, posted a little sign in her building to warn her neighbours.
Anja's parents have just recently left, and her dad did some fatherly things around the apartment for her, many of which required the use of tools, which were purchased while they were visiting. The drill, however, did not get used, and as soon as Erik realized it was up for grabs, he was all over it. How often do you get to leave a party with a beer AND a power drill?
See? Life really is better in Paris :)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Life is getting back into that busy routine, of school, tutoring, gym, repeat. I've started everything now, except the American School, which goes back in October. I'm working an extra afternoon now at the nursery school this year which is great, and have less tutoring this year, which should also help minimize the craziness that tends to ensue when I end up working six or seven days of the week (depending on what replacements I do at the gym).
Erik has been busy as well, off to Valencia for a week long conference (which the lab secretary forgot to pay for...) where he enjoyed a visit to the aquarium with his boss and enjoyed a beer while watching the dolphin show. Then he had a work retreat last week for three days in the south of France where he wowed his lab with his superior presentation skills.
In other news, upon returning from Japan, and deciding that we were probably going to have to stay in our apartment for at least another year, we decided that it was time to get a new bed. We've spent the past three years sleeping on a rock hard mattress on a trampoline like frame of springs. The only thing that made it possible to sleep on it was the fact that we stored our suitcases under the bed and they provided enough support to keep us from constantly rolling together into the middle of the bed.
When we were in Japan, Erik decided that it was more comfortable sleeping on futons on the floor than our bed, and hence dragged me out to Ikea the Friday that we returned. Let me tell you, if there is anything that you should avoid when jet lagged, it's shopping at Ikea. It's guaranteed to drive you crazy and test your relationship on a good day, but when you're just barely managing to keep your eyes open it will likely end in one party not speaking to the other, and leaving the store with some random things that serve no purpose whatsoever to improve your sleeping situation.
We returned the next day (a Saturday, aka the worst day to visit Ikea) purchased a bed frame and a mattress, waited thirty minutes for it to come out of the warehouse then promptly lined up to have it delivered (although we seriously considered trying to bring it on the train--it was only 30 kilos. We're tough, right?).
Sunday was spent dragging the old solid metal bedframe and rock slab mattress down 6 flights of stairs and out to the curb, then hauling the new mattress back up the stairs (luckily the frame, in it's handy Ikea sized boxes fit in the elevator.) Erik enjoyed an evening of bed construction, and I like to think that we've been together long enough to know that it's best if we don't try and do that kind of thing together. I mean, he actually reads the manual! And uses tools other than the Allen key! Who'd a thunk?
*****
We've also finally figured out what we're going to do for Christmas. After a couple of months of tossing potential ideas around, and watching ticket prices get steadily more expensive, we've settled on Ottawa. Erik's family will all be there to join in the fun, and I'm looking forward to being home for the holidays for the first time in five years. I'm not so much looking forward to the cold however...
Friday, August 22, 2008
Rewind
Here are the daily updates for the last week of our trip:
Friday 15/08:
Head back up to the Iwami Ginzan silver mines, and this time actually go in. Do the tour of the smaller mine shaft, and enjoy the walk back through the bamboo forest. Visit a shrine perched high above the mine shaft. Lots of stairs!
Go back into Oda for a quick rest before dinner at the Osawa's.
We have a fantastic meal with way too much food. A huge dish of sahsimi, fried fish, grilled seafood, egg custard, soup, somen noodles, it just went on and on. So delicious!
Go to Eddah's apartment for a drink before calling it a night.
Saturday 16/08:
Say goodbye to Yoshimi and Yuko, who stopped by at the last minute. Hard to believe our time in Oda is already done!
Stop at a beautiful gorge on the drive from Oda to Hiroshima. Walked down the many stairs, then picked our way across the slippery rocks of the gorge to see a small shrine perched on the other side.
Continue driving all the way to Hiroshima. Grab a quick lunch, then walk through the Peace Park before heading for the airport.
At the airport, Pete has to check his walking stick, and then later his jacknife, which we find amusing. Domestic travel in Japan is so easy! You can bring liquids on board (as we did....), no one ever looked at our passports, Pete's jacknife which he accidentally left in his backpack was quickly put in an envelope to be checked. So accomodating!
Once in Tokyo, we drop our stuff off at Pete's and head out for dinner at TGIFridays. It's fairly late, and lots of stuff is closed because of obon.
Sunday 17/08:
Started out the day with a run around Ueno park, near Pete's place. The weather is drizzly and grey, but perfect for running. The park is beautiful, with an enormous pond full of lotus flowers.
Take the train to Shinjuku (area in Tokyo) and go up the Tokyo Goverment Building to the observation deck. Unfortunately the lousy weather meant that there wasn't much of a view.
Grab umbrellas and walk back towards the station to see if the Mexican Beer Garden is open (it's not). Meet up with Pete's friend Emi for a drink and then we all go for dinner at a fancy restaurant specializing in tofu. Delicious and beautiful food.
Monday 18/08:
Steve, Erik and I walk to Kappabashi-dori to look at all the kitchen ware and fake food stores. Very interesting, and I wish that we had another suitcase! Buy some chopsticks.
Visit Senso-ji temple in Asakasa. Huge temple with lots of incense. Peruse the busy souvenir stands surrounding the temple.
Go to the Asahi headquarters, a huge building designed to look like a pint of beer. Nothing to see there aside from the building, so we carry on back to the subway to go back to Shinjuku to try the Mexican beer garden again. We had great weather all day, and are very optimistic. Get completely turned around in the huge train station, and by the time we find the right roof top patio, it looks like it's going to start pouring. We are determined to enjoy some all you can eat/drink fun, so we tough it out, and luckily the weather cooperates. We had a great time, and all ate too much, and way too fast (two hour limit, we were worried the rain would force us out early).
After the beer garden we randomly decided to go bowling. We all got vending machine shoes and socks and had a great time.
Went back to Ueno for one last drink, then one last snack (the boys only, I couldn't believe they were still hungry!), then the combini to finish the night at Pete's.
Tuesday 19/08:
A bit of a rough start for the boys, so I go do some shopping at the department stores at Ikebukuro by myself. Didn't buy anything, but enjoyed browsing the food floors. A lot like the Grande Epicerie/Galleries Lafayette with a Japanese spin.
The three of us met up again at Ueno park and visited the temple and shrine there before going to the Tokyo National Museum, a perfect choice for the day because it was so ridiculously hot outside. The museum had an excellent collection of artifacts chronicling Japanese history. Could have easily spent a whole day there, but we ran out of time (and energy).
We wanted to go boating on the pond in the park with Pete when he was done work, but it started to rain, and we got hungry, so we had a pre-dinner meal of Korean food before meeting up with some friends of Steve's for dinner and drinks at an Okinawan izakaya.
Wednesday 20/08:
Our last day!!! :(
We actually got up at a reasonable hour for the first time the entire trip and went to the Edo Museum which is by the sumo stadium. We enjoyed the well presented history of Edo (old Tokyo) with many scale models of old neighbourhoods and living quarters. Again very interesting.
Have lunch at a delicious ramen shop nearby.
Take the subway to Roppongi to see the Mori Tower. It's a huge tower with a shopping center inside. Less interesting than we expected, so we decide to walk from there to Omotesando, where we're meeting Pete and Emi later on.
Omotesando is like the Tokyo version of the Champs Elysee, with all the big designer brands and some really interesting architechture. I liked the Prada building, and the Tod's building and Dior were also really cool.
Had a taste of Canada with maple flavoured soft serve, then hit happy hour for a quick drink before meeting Pete and Emi.
Emi had arranged for us to go to a sake tasting organized by the Danish embassy at a famous tonkatsu restaurant, Maisen. The sake presentation was by Miyasaka breweries, and was lots of fun, and the food was also delicious. We had a guided tasting of five different sakes, then they left all the bottles on the table for us to enjoy with the meal.
A perfect way to end the trip. Not that we wanted it to end...
Then we were up bright and early yesterday morning to get the train out to Narita. Steve came along for the ride before continuing on to catch his flight out of Haneda. We were pretty disappointed when we checked in and were told that we wouldn't be able to sit together. After saying goodbye to Steve we cruised half-heartedly through duty free and were waiting to board when we got paged by the airline. Lucky us, we got upgraded to Premium Economy, which meant not only did we get to sit together, but a bigger seat, way more leg room with a leg rest, better food, and best of all champagne! It was a pretty good flight home.
And now we're back in Paris. Not much has changed. The weather is still grey, and it's absolutely pouring rain right now. It's nice to not be sweating all the time, and we slept with covers on the bed for the first time in two weeks.
Really not looking forward to going back to work.
Friday 15/08:
Head back up to the Iwami Ginzan silver mines, and this time actually go in. Do the tour of the smaller mine shaft, and enjoy the walk back through the bamboo forest. Visit a shrine perched high above the mine shaft. Lots of stairs!
Go back into Oda for a quick rest before dinner at the Osawa's.
We have a fantastic meal with way too much food. A huge dish of sahsimi, fried fish, grilled seafood, egg custard, soup, somen noodles, it just went on and on. So delicious!
Go to Eddah's apartment for a drink before calling it a night.
Saturday 16/08:
Say goodbye to Yoshimi and Yuko, who stopped by at the last minute. Hard to believe our time in Oda is already done!
Stop at a beautiful gorge on the drive from Oda to Hiroshima. Walked down the many stairs, then picked our way across the slippery rocks of the gorge to see a small shrine perched on the other side.
Continue driving all the way to Hiroshima. Grab a quick lunch, then walk through the Peace Park before heading for the airport.
At the airport, Pete has to check his walking stick, and then later his jacknife, which we find amusing. Domestic travel in Japan is so easy! You can bring liquids on board (as we did....), no one ever looked at our passports, Pete's jacknife which he accidentally left in his backpack was quickly put in an envelope to be checked. So accomodating!
Once in Tokyo, we drop our stuff off at Pete's and head out for dinner at TGIFridays. It's fairly late, and lots of stuff is closed because of obon.
Sunday 17/08:
Started out the day with a run around Ueno park, near Pete's place. The weather is drizzly and grey, but perfect for running. The park is beautiful, with an enormous pond full of lotus flowers.
Take the train to Shinjuku (area in Tokyo) and go up the Tokyo Goverment Building to the observation deck. Unfortunately the lousy weather meant that there wasn't much of a view.
Grab umbrellas and walk back towards the station to see if the Mexican Beer Garden is open (it's not). Meet up with Pete's friend Emi for a drink and then we all go for dinner at a fancy restaurant specializing in tofu. Delicious and beautiful food.
Monday 18/08:
Steve, Erik and I walk to Kappabashi-dori to look at all the kitchen ware and fake food stores. Very interesting, and I wish that we had another suitcase! Buy some chopsticks.
Visit Senso-ji temple in Asakasa. Huge temple with lots of incense. Peruse the busy souvenir stands surrounding the temple.
Go to the Asahi headquarters, a huge building designed to look like a pint of beer. Nothing to see there aside from the building, so we carry on back to the subway to go back to Shinjuku to try the Mexican beer garden again. We had great weather all day, and are very optimistic. Get completely turned around in the huge train station, and by the time we find the right roof top patio, it looks like it's going to start pouring. We are determined to enjoy some all you can eat/drink fun, so we tough it out, and luckily the weather cooperates. We had a great time, and all ate too much, and way too fast (two hour limit, we were worried the rain would force us out early).
After the beer garden we randomly decided to go bowling. We all got vending machine shoes and socks and had a great time.
Went back to Ueno for one last drink, then one last snack (the boys only, I couldn't believe they were still hungry!), then the combini to finish the night at Pete's.
Tuesday 19/08:
A bit of a rough start for the boys, so I go do some shopping at the department stores at Ikebukuro by myself. Didn't buy anything, but enjoyed browsing the food floors. A lot like the Grande Epicerie/Galleries Lafayette with a Japanese spin.
The three of us met up again at Ueno park and visited the temple and shrine there before going to the Tokyo National Museum, a perfect choice for the day because it was so ridiculously hot outside. The museum had an excellent collection of artifacts chronicling Japanese history. Could have easily spent a whole day there, but we ran out of time (and energy).
We wanted to go boating on the pond in the park with Pete when he was done work, but it started to rain, and we got hungry, so we had a pre-dinner meal of Korean food before meeting up with some friends of Steve's for dinner and drinks at an Okinawan izakaya.
Wednesday 20/08:
Our last day!!! :(
We actually got up at a reasonable hour for the first time the entire trip and went to the Edo Museum which is by the sumo stadium. We enjoyed the well presented history of Edo (old Tokyo) with many scale models of old neighbourhoods and living quarters. Again very interesting.
Have lunch at a delicious ramen shop nearby.
Take the subway to Roppongi to see the Mori Tower. It's a huge tower with a shopping center inside. Less interesting than we expected, so we decide to walk from there to Omotesando, where we're meeting Pete and Emi later on.
Omotesando is like the Tokyo version of the Champs Elysee, with all the big designer brands and some really interesting architechture. I liked the Prada building, and the Tod's building and Dior were also really cool.
Had a taste of Canada with maple flavoured soft serve, then hit happy hour for a quick drink before meeting Pete and Emi.
Emi had arranged for us to go to a sake tasting organized by the Danish embassy at a famous tonkatsu restaurant, Maisen. The sake presentation was by Miyasaka breweries, and was lots of fun, and the food was also delicious. We had a guided tasting of five different sakes, then they left all the bottles on the table for us to enjoy with the meal.
A perfect way to end the trip. Not that we wanted it to end...
Then we were up bright and early yesterday morning to get the train out to Narita. Steve came along for the ride before continuing on to catch his flight out of Haneda. We were pretty disappointed when we checked in and were told that we wouldn't be able to sit together. After saying goodbye to Steve we cruised half-heartedly through duty free and were waiting to board when we got paged by the airline. Lucky us, we got upgraded to Premium Economy, which meant not only did we get to sit together, but a bigger seat, way more leg room with a leg rest, better food, and best of all champagne! It was a pretty good flight home.
And now we're back in Paris. Not much has changed. The weather is still grey, and it's absolutely pouring rain right now. It's nice to not be sweating all the time, and we slept with covers on the bed for the first time in two weeks.
Really not looking forward to going back to work.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
enfin chez nous
12.5 hours is all it takes to be transported to another world. We said goodbye to Steve and Pete this morning, and now we're sitting in our lonely little apartment wondering what we're going to eat for dinner.
What an awesome trip. When can we go back?
What an awesome trip. When can we go back?
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thursday
We went and watched Steve play taiko at a local performance in the morning, it was fantastic!
Lunch at the Queens Cafe, yummy.
Beach.
Dinner at the kira-kira (means 'twinkle', the restaurant has Christmas lights outside) restaurant.
Karaoke!
Lunch at the Queens Cafe, yummy.
Beach.
Dinner at the kira-kira (means 'twinkle', the restaurant has Christmas lights outside) restaurant.
Karaoke!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday
Today was culture day. Also, our third anniversary! :)
We drove out to Omori to check out the silver mines. The Iwami Ginzan silver mines have recently been declared a World Heritage site for both cultural and industrial reasons. Erik and I visited them on our first trip to Japan, but lots has changed, and Pete was in, so off we went.
We stopped first at the new museum explaining the history of the area, and the special way that the silver was extracted from the mines. Then we continued on to Omori, first to have lunch and meet up with Yuko. While we were looking for a place to eat, we ran into Matsuba-san, the woman who owns the samurai house that we stayed at on our last trip. She invited us over for lunch, and we had a fantastic meal in her beautiful house.
After lunch we checked out another samurai house, and visited the shrine with the special dragon that roars when you clap in the middle of the room. After a stop for ice cream, we realized that we were too late for the mines. Hopefully we'll be able to do it another day.
Steve had a taiko practise that evening, so we were on our own. We found a rooftop patio and hung out there for a bit before continuing on. There was a big bingo festival happening outside the grocery store, but we were too late to get in on the fun. Ran into Asano-san, the woman whose family owns a sake brewery.
Picked up some groceries, and had dinner at home for the first time. Pete's a good cook! We had been given some fresh fish at the bbq we were invited to on Monday, so we grilled it, and it was delicious.
We drove out to Omori to check out the silver mines. The Iwami Ginzan silver mines have recently been declared a World Heritage site for both cultural and industrial reasons. Erik and I visited them on our first trip to Japan, but lots has changed, and Pete was in, so off we went.
We stopped first at the new museum explaining the history of the area, and the special way that the silver was extracted from the mines. Then we continued on to Omori, first to have lunch and meet up with Yuko. While we were looking for a place to eat, we ran into Matsuba-san, the woman who owns the samurai house that we stayed at on our last trip. She invited us over for lunch, and we had a fantastic meal in her beautiful house.
After lunch we checked out another samurai house, and visited the shrine with the special dragon that roars when you clap in the middle of the room. After a stop for ice cream, we realized that we were too late for the mines. Hopefully we'll be able to do it another day.
Steve had a taiko practise that evening, so we were on our own. We found a rooftop patio and hung out there for a bit before continuing on. There was a big bingo festival happening outside the grocery store, but we were too late to get in on the fun. Ran into Asano-san, the woman whose family owns a sake brewery.
Picked up some groceries, and had dinner at home for the first time. Pete's a good cook! We had been given some fresh fish at the bbq we were invited to on Monday, so we grilled it, and it was delicious.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Tuesday
Anyway, here's how the day went (after we ate):
Decide to go to the beach.
Go to combini for sunscreen. No sunscreen, but get ice cream (it's sooooo hot!!)
Go to Juntendo home store for sunscreen. No sunscreen, but get two sunflower themed inflatable inner tubes.
Go to next combini. They have sunscreen. They also have frozen drinks.
Go to beach.
Apply sunscreen.
Inflate inner tubes.
Float around in the sea of Japan for a couple of hours.
Get out. Reapply sunscreen. Drive to next beach.
Eat.
Onsen.
Eat.
Watch Olympics.
Go to combini. Buy snacks.
Consume snacks and beverages.
Sleep.
It was a tough day.
Decide to go to the beach.
Go to combini for sunscreen. No sunscreen, but get ice cream (it's sooooo hot!!)
Go to Juntendo home store for sunscreen. No sunscreen, but get two sunflower themed inflatable inner tubes.
Go to next combini. They have sunscreen. They also have frozen drinks.
Go to beach.
Apply sunscreen.
Inflate inner tubes.
Float around in the sea of Japan for a couple of hours.
Get out. Reapply sunscreen. Drive to next beach.
Eat.
Onsen.
Eat.
Watch Olympics.
Go to combini. Buy snacks.
Consume snacks and beverages.
Sleep.
It was a tough day.
Monday
Monday was the return from Matsue. Stopped for breakfast at the Gusto in Izumo, then drove back up to Hirata to say goodbye to Yoshimi. We were taking the train back to Ohda. One train from Hirata to Izumo, no problem, but the train we got on leaving Izumo ended at the next stop. We got off and hung around the super exciting train station for a bit, before checking out the wave pool, and noticing the brewery across the street. The brewery was unfortunately closed, but the hotel next door was able to sell us some of the local specialties.
Back on the (correct) train, it was a pleasant ride down the coast before arriving at our destination. Ran some errands (groceries!) before heading back to the train station to pick up Pete! It's great to have him here.
We were invited to dinner that night at the Marugame's, where we barbequed fresh fish and local beef. Very delicious!
Back on the (correct) train, it was a pleasant ride down the coast before arriving at our destination. Ran some errands (groceries!) before heading back to the train station to pick up Pete! It's great to have him here.
We were invited to dinner that night at the Marugame's, where we barbequed fresh fish and local beef. Very delicious!
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday
**You can see all the pictures we've been taking by clicking the link for the slideshow to the left**
Sunday was festival day.
We treated ourselves to lunch at McDonalds, the halfway point in our drive to Matsue. Before getting dressed up for the festival, we checked out Matsue Castle, the only other original wooden castle aside from Himeji in Japan. Then we stopped by the samurai house quickly, before going to get dressed up for the evening.
The summer is festival season in Japan, and many people get dressed up in yukata and jimbe for the event. Yoshimi was kind enough to lend me a yukata and help me put it on. It was a fun experience. At the festival, we watched a couple of different taiko groups perform, we snacked on festival food, and then found a spot to settle in for the grande finale, the fireworks. The show was quite impressive, and quite long! It went on for about an hour. We watched most of it before heading back to the stands for some more snacks, and then we called it a night.
Matsue Castle
At the top of the castle (it was a bit warm....)
Girls in yukata
The boys in their jimbe
Sunday was festival day.
We treated ourselves to lunch at McDonalds, the halfway point in our drive to Matsue. Before getting dressed up for the festival, we checked out Matsue Castle, the only other original wooden castle aside from Himeji in Japan. Then we stopped by the samurai house quickly, before going to get dressed up for the evening.
The summer is festival season in Japan, and many people get dressed up in yukata and jimbe for the event. Yoshimi was kind enough to lend me a yukata and help me put it on. It was a fun experience. At the festival, we watched a couple of different taiko groups perform, we snacked on festival food, and then found a spot to settle in for the grande finale, the fireworks. The show was quite impressive, and quite long! It went on for about an hour. We watched most of it before heading back to the stands for some more snacks, and then we called it a night.
Matsue Castle
At the top of the castle (it was a bit warm....)
Girls in yukata
The boys in their jimbe
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