Asakusa Adventure....one more time

So, two weekends ago (yep, despite my best efforts the blog is still running behind), John and I took Sophie to the shrine in Asakusa. We went so that I could pick up a few more pottery items to take home with us and ended up getting yet another kitchen knife for John to play with. This one even says our name on it....fancy, right.

It just seems so strange going places when we know that we'll never be there again. After taking a million and one visitors there this was our last time to walk through all the souvenir stands and pick our way over to Kappabachi, the kitchen area and see all the restaurant wares to be had. We ate at this reportedly famous unagi (eel) restaurant that I discovered on a previous tourist trip. It was really great!

Here a few pictures to capture this, our last trip to Asakusa. Sayonara.

Until next time...Jenn

Hakone It Is

So, last weekend John had a holiday (yes I know he's always getting random holidays) and we decided at the last minute to head to Hakone for an overnight trip. We were extremely lucky to find one hotel with one room available at the last minute. I had been to Hakone once before with my friend Jill, but it rained the entire time we were there, so visibility was dismal. I'm happy to report that I can now say I've seen it properly. The weather was in a cooperative mood and so we set out on Saturday.

I'm happy to report that Sophie was a rock star most of the time. She had to spend a lot of time in the stroller poor kiddo, but thankfully she loves rollin'. I'm attaching pictures, but basically Hakone is to be seen in a loop. You start on the train, switch to a railway, next up is the cable car, onto the pirate ship to cruise Lake Ashi then a bus ride to round out the trip. I was better with the various transportation pictures on my first trip....on this one we were too worried about getting Sophie and the stroller and the diaper bag and ourselves on and off each vehicle. As with my first trip, I think the highlight was the open air museum. It is just full of cool sculptures and given the perfect weather it was just so nice to walk around such beautiful grounds.

As you'll notice in the pictures I feel like we have our own version of "Flat Stanley"....it's Sophie strolling! One day we can show her all these pictures to prove that yes she did get the Japan experience if only for a short while.

Until next time...Jenn