OK- so I guess it's time for me to start writing about my spring vacation.
In a word, it was AMAZING!!!
(but now I'll use hundreds of words to tell you all about it! Haha!)
My Mom & Dad came to visit for 15 days. It was fantastic to see them in the flesh (not on skype) after being in Japan for a year.
At the end of the school year, I was feeling quite homesick and just plain DONE with Japan. Not good considering I just signed up for another year. So, I was really looking forward to their visit.
They landed at Narita on the afternoon of March 26. I took an airport bus to Mito to meet them. It's about a 2 hour ride and is quite pretty as the road is in the country and goes along the coast a bit. It also goes by some nuclear power facilities...
When I arrived at the airport I had a bit of a wait, but lucky for me CNN was on the TV and it was in English. And that is not sarcastic at all. I was immensely happy to listen to and hear the news from CNN. Who'd ever think they'd say that?
When Mom & Dad finally arrived, it felt really good to give them a hug. There were tears from Mom (OK- I got a little misty, too!)
As we all had luggage and it was soon to be rush hour, we decided to take the airport limousine bus to the hotel. Now, don't get any fancy ideas- it's just a bus!! But it drops you off at the front of your hotel, which is really nice. Of course, as I said it was the start of rush hour so it took over 2 hours to get into Tokyo!!!
We finally arrived at The Hotel Grand Palace in Iidabashi. Very nice!!!
After settling in, we went up to the top floor to have a celebratory cocktail in the lounge. There is a great view of Tokyo from there. We were all starving by now, so we headed off to Harajuku for dinner. We had to catch the subway to Shinjuku and then the train to Harajuku. Of course, it's a different way than I've gone before so I was a little unsure of where to go. I was pretty sure, but I wanted to be positive. I think Mom & Dad were a little worried that I was lost or about to be lost- but never fear!! I got us on the right platform and train!!! For some reason I tend to be good at directions! By the time we got to Harajuku it was getting late, and it was a Wednesday, so there weren't the crazy weekend crowds. But we did see several of the crazy, costume wearing locals!!! That was good for a laugh with the folks!
We had dinner at Apartment Cafe- mostly because I've been there before and knew that we would be able to get served there. The main stress for me over the trip was that I really wanted my parents to have a great time. And that I had become more of the parent, trying to find where we were going, deciding where to eat, communicating, etc. And though I've lived here for a year, I'm still pretty useless when it comes to speaking Japanese!! There were a few times over the 15 days that I got a little stressed out!!
Anyway, dinner was great and we walked around afterwards. We walked up to Omotesando Hill which has all these high end boutiques and then headed back to the hotel.
On the 27th, Tamotsu ( who you have heard of before- he's a friend of my parent's friends who lives in Tokyo and I've tried to meet up with him before...) graciously offered to show us around Tokyo.
After breakfast at the Excelsior Cafe (which is Japan's Starbucks), which my Dad thought just rocked!!, Tamotsu met us at our hotel and off we went........
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