Author: richardt

Japan 2018 Day 7: Hakone to Osaka

May 9, 2018
Japan2018

We headed from Hakone to Osaka today. Here are Susan and Gillian waiting for the Shinkansen at Odawara Station.


The Shinkansen.


We stayed at the Shin Osaka Station Hotel right across from the Osaka Train Station.


After dropping our luggage off at our hotel, we headed to the Osaka Aquarium. The seats on the train platform were a little odd.


The aquarium is near Osaka Bay.


They will take your picture with your camera, after they take a picture of you with their camera and trying to get you to buy a group photo.


They had a cool penguin exhibit.


Lots of cool jelly fish.


Gillian with another Japanese dude.


More penguins.


It is a pretty cool aquarium, well worth the visit.

Japan 2018 Day 6: Hakone

May 8, 2018
Japan2018

Today we set out for Owakudani, it is the area around a crater created during the last eruption of Mount Hakone some 3000 years ago. Today, much of the area is an active volcanic zone where sulfurous fumes, hot springs and hot rivers can be experienced. Gillian with a broom in the waiting shack for the cable car.


To get there you have to take a ropeway (which is like a gondola).


May 8th, it was our anniversary!


Gillian trying to find a Japanese guy.


Shanna purchased some black eggs, they are cooked in the naturally hot water, the shells are blackened by the sulfur. It is said that they prolong one’s life by seven years.


As you can see the views of Mt Fuji weren’t happening on this day.


We took the Komagatake Ropeway down to Lake Ashinoko.


We took the big pirate ship across Lake Ashinoko.


We headed to Hakone-Yumoto for some lunch and shopping.


Gillian in front of shelves of umeboshi.


Machine making sweet cakes.


This was the eating area of our hotel, the room to the right was for sleeping on futons.


One of the black eggs.

Japan 2018 Day 5: Tokyo/Hakone

May 7, 2018
Japan2018

One of the things recommended was the live tuna auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market. Only 120 visitors are able to view the auction on any given day. In order to be one of the few, it also means getting there early to lineup and wait. We still had the time difference on our side, so getting up at 2:00am wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Gillian, Shanna and I headed out from the hotel, Susan was the smart one choosing to sleep. It’s quite the process, first you line up outside and then they bring you into a waiting area, where you sit on the floor to wait. They hand you a flyer with the do’s and don’ts for observing. When it comes time to go, they lead you through the active fish market and into the auction area. The auction starts at 6:00am.


The tuna buyers check out all of the frozen tuna up for auction.


The final tuna auction at the Tsukiji market was on October 6, 2018. The fish market was originally schedule to close in 2016, but was delayed many times. The area will be levelled and used for the upcoming Olympic Games in 2020. The new market is called the Toyosu market and is about 2km east of the current market.


The auction starts with the ringing of a bell.


The bidding starts.


We were only in there for about 15-20 minutes before our time is up and they herd us out.


Today was our first travel day, we were heading to Hakone by Shinkansen (bullet train), train, and then cable car. We purchased a 14 day rail pass. it was pretty cool riding the bullet train.


Hakone is located at the foot of Mt. Fuji, unfortunately our weather for our two days in the area looked like this, and therefore no views of Fuji.


We purchased the Hakone Free Pass. After the shinkansen, we transferred at Odawara to a train which climbed the mountainous area via a bunch of switchbacks.


To get to our hotel we took the cable car. We stayed at Yutorelo Annex Hakone, this was a traditional Japanese style accommodation with an onsen.


We headed to the Hakone Glass Museum.


The Glass no Mori’s Venetian Glass Museum houses a collection of over 100 pieces of Venetian glassware. It displays both modern and classical works in all forms including vases, goblets, lamps and sculptures.

Japan 2018 Day 4: Tokyo

May 6, 2018
Japan2018

Today’s highlight was the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, on the west side of Tokyo. We had bought tickets for it back in February through JTB, tickets can only be purchased in advance. We have done pretty good with the subways and trains so far.


The lineup in front of the museum.


They do not allow photography inside the museum, the only place you could take photos was on the roof with the Robot Soldier.


After the museum we headed to Akihabara Electric Town. Akihabara is a buzzing shopping hub famed for its electronics retailers, ranging from tiny stalls to vast department stores


On Sundays they close down the street to traffic.

Japan 2018 Day 3: Tokyo

May 5, 2018
Japan2018

Our first full day in Tokyo. Our view from our hotel.

In the breakfast area of the hotel, there was a vending machine with nigiri, unfortunately it was out of order.


Our first task was to figure out to get our Pasmo cards, they are cards that work on the subways and at convenience stores. You load them up and then just tap when entering the subways.


One of the reasons we had just carry on luggage as we would be doing a lot of this in the subways.


We headed to our second hotel. It was the APA Hotel Hatchobori-eki Minami that was close to the Tsukiji market area.


The market was very busy.


with lots of interesting seafood and food.


We got some grilled squid.


From the Tsukji market we headed for the Imperial Palace gardens.


Our final stop of the day was Asakusa.


The gate to Senso-ji Temple


It is also Tokyo’s biggest souvenir market.


The Senso-ji temple is an ancient Buddhist temple. It is Tokyo’s oldest temple, and one of its most significant.

Japan 2018 Day 1 and 2: Travel

May 4, 2018
Japan2018

We started our Japan 2018 Adventure bright and early, Angela and Claudia drove us to the airport for our milk run to Tokyo. Here are Susan and Gillian waiting for our first flight from Toronto to Vancouver where we were meeting up with Shanna.


From Vancouver it was on to Tokyo via stop in Beijing, China.It was a long journey, we went from Toronto to Vancouver (5 hours), then Vancouver to Beijing (11 hours), and then Beijing to Tokyo-Haneda (3 hours). Here we are on the Vancouver to Beijing leg.


We arrived at Tokyo Haneda airport around 9:30pm on Friday and cleared customs. We took a shuttle bus to our hotel that was only about 5 minutes from the airport.

A week in Aruba

February 25, 2018
Aruba2018

We took a break from winter and flew down to Aruba for a week. Angela and Gillian were on their Reading Week and Claudia had a short week due to Family Day. We flew out of Toronto on Saturday morning.

Waiting for the bus to the terminal.

Immigrations was busy, Claudia was 3 months shy of us being able to use the self serve lanes. Made it through and found our luggage and our bus to the resort.

We spent the week at the Tamarijn Aruba Resort.

The girls ready to hit the beach.

Our rooms were on the second floor, we were in the rooms 3rd and 4th from the left.

Sunsets were spectacular every night.

We didn’t spend any time at the pool.

Every night they had something going in the main area, however it also coincided with the regular evening rain showers.

On Tuesday we headed into Oranjestad for some shopping.

There were two cruise ships in port that day.

Tuesday nights entertainment was a Carnival show, since it rained they moved it into the lobby.

Us sitting under our palapa.

A double rainbow after one of the early morning showers.

The main lobby area after another morning shower.

A couple of guys repairing one of the palapa.

The evening sky.

The buffet food was pretty good, we ate at four of the a la carte restaurants. The last night was at the Palm Grill.

We picked two mains (i.e. chicken, shrimp, beef, salmon) and there were veggies, rice and fries.

The last couple of days had some big waves.

Our flight departed at 17:05, our bus pickup was 14:15. A few pictures while waiting for the bus.

Check-in, immigration and security were very busy on the way out. It was an uneventful flight back to Toronto, customs wasn’t that bad when we landed, and it didn’t feel that cold when we stepped out of the terminal.

It was a good week, even after the early hospital visit by Angela, Susan and Gillian. Temperatures were a steady 28°C during the day and a cool 26°C in the evenings. It rained every day, often for a couple of minutes at a time. In the evening it would rain for at least 5 minutes, and overnight it would last a little longer. The consensus was that we would go back.

Aruba 2018

January 28, 2018
Aruba2018

We are booked for a mid-winter vacation to Aruba. Angela and Gillian are on their reading week, and Claudia will miss 4 days of school. We are staying at the Tamarijn Aruba. Everyone is looking forward for the beach and some 29°C weather.

Happy Birthday Lori!

January 20, 2018
Rainwater

We headed out to Brad and Chelsea’s in Binbrook to celebrate Lori’s milestone birthday. They made sushi and ordered Chinese food, and as usual I (we) ate too much. It was to good to pass up.

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2018
Rainwater

We headed out to Scarborough for New Year’s at Mom and Dad’s. Even though it was only a high of -9°C, the girls were determined to go tobogganing on the hill. Here are Gillian, Claudia and Emi getting a push from Angela.

Angela and Dylan

Angela making Dylan pull her uphill.

Claudia doing the same with Emi.

Angela on the metal saucer that has to be close to 50 years old.

Emi set to take off.

Dylan on the saucer.

Angela helping Gillian down the hill.

Angela head first down the hill.

Claudia and Willow.

Dylan with Kaiden and Bear.

Bear eating a jello jiggler.

Not sure what happened this year, but as we were all digging into the delicious dinner, Sara commented that we didn’t take any pictures of the food. I think it was the forgotten salmon that threw me off, usually I see it on the table and I pull out the camera. Oh well, the food was still great!