I promised you an adventure and here we go.  When you last read the journal we were going down the hill.  We had stopped at a museum but it was getting late and we didn't want to go in.  Our bus passes had a map with the route and the bus stops.  A man directed Carol and I down a little road with a long road to the left ending at Bus stop #82.  Michael had decided he wanted to take a picture of this red bridge he had read about in his book.  We said we'd wait at the bus station.  He had my tickets from the local train station to the JR line but promised to meet us at the bus stop.  Carol and I walked as the guy had told us and sat at bus stop # 82 where I took a picture of the statue and a wonderful water fountain with a dragon on it for my granddaughter Olivia.  We grabbed a drink from the vending machine and waited....and waited......while buses came and went. I found that the road going down the hill to our left was steep and went quite a ways to that red bridge.  We figured he would have to come up and after all those steps we knew he'd be tired so we kept waiting.  

 Now I'm beginning to worry big time.  We decide maybe he meant the bus stop where we caught the train so we decided to go on down and watch for him along the way.  I was beginning to cuss that blasted bridge and when the bus went right by it and their was actually a bus stop nearby I was really upset as everyone had told us there was no bus stop nearby and he would HAVE to walk up the hill.  

I watched for him the entire time but no luck.  Carol started to get off the bus at bus stop # 2 because it said " train stop" but I stopped her to show her that was a local stop and we had to go to #1 that would take us to the JR Line.  

We got off at #1 and I hurried to find Michael. No. Michael anywhere!  Now I am really worried and I looked pretty stressed out and when I went to the window the girl that could speak English....the only one in the place heard my sorry tale and asked me if I wanted to call the police!  What the heck I thought.  I showed them a picture I had of him on the steps of the shrine. (I'm including it), and they got his name and wrote down all he was wearing.  I didn't think they would have trouble finding a bearded "guygeen " with a black back pack and a SF Giants cap.  They called the police and here they came red lights flashing!  They took a picture of him from my iPad.   By then it was getting close to time to go and Michael had my tickets.  I told them I wouldn't leave him anyway.  They thought maybe he had caught the train to Tokyo but I knew that would never happen.  

It didn't take long and here came the policemen telling me they had found him and were bringing him in the cop car.  Boy was I relieved.  Michael said they came up to him and said, " you likel dah?" luckily he said yes,  They explained that they would bring him to me.  It was then he realized he was at the wrong train station... the one Carol tried to get off.  

For once I was the only one who had read the map.  He had walked all the way down and back several times looking for me.  He had even  taken the picture of the dragon.  When he found out that the road down to the red bridge was so steep and he would have to come back up to meet us, he had decided not to go to the bridge.  When he backtracked he waits at bus stop 83 while we were at 82!  It was a comedy of errors, but he was so glad I had called the police or he would have kept waiting at the wrong station and we would have missed connections.  As it turned out, we found each other just in time but with the 200 steps plus miles to the station he was beat!

As it turned out,  the next day he saved my bacon!  It is good we have each other and are not afraid to call for help.  

My adventure will be after our walk through the gardens of The Emperor!  

Grove

Journal #42...Dinner When We Got Back From Nikko

Tired but hungry we went out to find dinner.  Carol really wanted sushi and we said we would try to find some place that had good sushi AND tempura.  We didn't find tempura but said we would find some sushi we could eat.  You can tell from our dishes that ours were not as elaborate as hers.  Carol said we had to eat it all in one bite so I took a mouthful of steamed shrimp and rice.  What I didn't know was there was wasabi inside the shrimp.  I got it all  in my mouth and chewed and Kazowie!  It burned my eyes, opened my sinuses and felt like my head was on fire.  From then on we peeked and scraped off the wasabi.  It was a real nice place though and I did take some pictures.

The two men next to me......we sat with our feet in the hole....ate two huge dishes full of raw fish sushi, then one large dish of vegetable sushi, and finally big bowls of miso soup.  they were eating when we arrived and still eating when we left!  After reading that people who ate raw fish sometimes get foot long worms in their bellies had me nixing any of that!  What we had was just fine.

Grove

Journal #43... "47 Ronin"

Carol and Michael both read the book of the 47 Ronin.  They were Samurai without a leader.  Their lord had killed himself and then been decapitated when he harmed the advisor to the Emperor.   This  advisor guy had the Emperor in his pocket .....when Michael read the book he kept thinking of Dick Cheney!  So this guy kept taunting the lord  Samurai until the lord hit him. For that, the Emperor had to punish,  however he let the guy kill himself before decapitation.  It all sounds a bit much to me.  Because the Samurai had lost their lord they wanted revenge.  After some time the last of the thousands of Samurai under him numbered only 47.  They stuck around to get revenge for their fallen lord.  In the book they get their revenge but then all go the same way as their lord, killing themselves and then being decapitated!   I said it sounded like a good Kabuki show only to find out that it is a very popular one!

Anyway both Carol and Michael wanted to see where the 47 Ronin were buried.   The burial place is very nice  and of course there is a nice shrine there! Surprised? Lots of Japanese people buy incense to burn at the graves.  They pray that they will have honor and be loyal, but I don't think they want the punishment.

I got the book to read although I have done nothing but write or sleep and have lots of other books to read when it get home anyway.  

Still the blossom trees dominate our pictures!

Grove. 

Journal #44... Very Last Day!!!

This morning after ryokan breakfast we took our suitcases on the train to the airport. There we deposited all luggage in a room for safekeeping  and headed back to town  for one last hurrah!  We found out that this day was one of the few days the emperor opens up his gardens to the public.  What  they didn't say was that we would have to walk a mile through a path to the TSA folks before we ever enter the place and that it was a mile through the gardens and at least two miles back to the station.  All we saw was first a pine forest to the gate and then cherry blossom trees, and the emperor 's place from across the moat.  We found that we could go uphill to a real flower garden but that was after so many miles!

We walked back toward the train station......the red European one, and stopped to have drinks, french fries and raisins on the vine! Only some guy in the California valley could trick Japanese to buy raisins that hadn't been cleaned  from the vine before drying.  Gross!

From there we went back happy from white wine and a Russian something-drink. After we went to the high tech restroom we picked up our luggage, checked it and started for the fancy lounge.  That is when I realized I didn't have my iPad!  Oh no!! All my journals,  all my photos, gone!  Thinking I had left it in the restroom. 

I started downstairs, but trying to back track I couldn't find the right bathroom.  I went to lost and found but no luck.  My heart was pounding.  I ran from one elevator to another until I heard my name on the loudspeaker to go to the information desk on the second floor.  There was Michael with MY IPAD,  he had found it...left at the luggage room!  I was soooooo relieved!

Now I need to tell you about how honest the Japanese are. A lost purse will be taken to lost and found every time....unless there is someone staying there to guard it from a dishonest tourist until  the REAL owner comes.  Someone left a new umbrella on the train platform and I saw it left there for days!  Of course it wasn't raining at the time, but I doubt it would have been there long in many cities in our country!

We went to the fancy lounge when they had great food to eat, and drinks to drink. I sat in a comfy chair and caught up on my typing......when I got up to go after a few hours, I could feel the cramps coming in my back and the rest is that airplane trip of hell from Japan to LA.  Nothing helped!! Got a wheelchair and pusher all the way to luggage where I got my meds.  That helped until I got home, after a trip to hospital for more meds, two shots and two days of sleep and I'm back to normal.

Know that this was a wonderful trip right up to the plane home.  We can never thank Carol enough for being the greatest tour guide ever!  She kept us moving and learning the entire trip.

I hope you have enjoyed riding along on this trip.  The end!  Finally !

Grove