May 5, 2015

Tuesday - Hot and sunny

A good day.

It’s very late, I’m a bit sick, and quite tired, so please forgive me if I cut this short.  F and I are back from our Golden Week Holiday and we had a really nice time.  The weather was great, we found interesting things to do and we were quite active too, so a good time was had.  

The bad point was that F was sick when we left. He said he didn’t feel too bad, but he had no voice and  developed a nasty cough.  He went to see a doctor yesterday but was told it wasn’t flu (whew!) and was given medicine.  However, on the way home, I realized that I’m not doing that well. I have a sore-ish throat and a runny, runny nose, so I’m going to be next.  Sigh.  

Saturday
We went to a Glass Museum in Fukushima City…we’d been there before, but F didn’t remember that he took me there.  It was fine and I enjoyed seeing it again anyway.  We tried to go to another museum in Fukushima but we think it was closed.  We asked Siri for restaurant recommendations so we walked to the place he suggested…but didn’t like the look of the place, so went to a nearby izakaya!  It was good, and they had Japanese and Korean food, so we enjoyed ourselves.  We had an early night on the first night.  

On Sunday we drove to Koriyama.  We tried to meet up with a friend of mine, but we never did managed to connect.  She told us about a ramen festival in a big park, so off we went.  We walked around the park and then F had some ramen.  He didn’t like it of course.  It was from some place in Tokyo, not original Koriyama Ramen.  We checked into our hotel which was near the park and then walked to a drugstore which was 800 meters away.  On the way we passed a mall, so on the way back, F suggested we go in and see about dinner.  We did eat at the mall, we had Japanese food and it was okay, but not great.  

We came back to the hotel where we both took Japanese style baths in the onsen.  I made a few friends the first night.  It was rather odd…I was completely naked and an old lady started talking to me.  Then her daughter got in on it, and probably the grand-daughter too.  I didn’t really mind as they were very friendly and we got by with a bit of English and a bit of Japanese.  
F and I had a fairly early night, except I did stay up to watch Downton Abbey.  

Monday
F woke me up early saying that he wanted to go to a doctor.  He thought he had the flu or something and wanted to get medicine.  We had breakfast and off he went.  I stayed in the room and crocheted.  He came back a little later and he didn’t have flu.  Yay for that.  

We set out and ended up by Inawashiro Lake.  We went to the Hideo Noguchi Museum and toured it.  It was quite fascinating.  The museum was almost completely bilingual, so not being able to read a lot of Japanese wasn’t a problem. I was also surprised to find out that he had a foreign wife.  I’m not sure if she ever made it to Japan, I have my doubts since Noguchi only went back to Japan once after he left.  

After a Japanese style lunch we set off to Aizu Wakamatsu. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always wanted to go there, perhaps an ex-student recommended it to me.  Anyway, we got there and decided to go to the castle.  We toured it and surprise, surprise, it was another place that was almost completely bilingual.  It wasn’t accessible though, so there weren’t any elevators.  It helped prove to me how far I have come though, I made it up to the top of the castle (5 storeys) without quitting or really thinking about quitting.  It wasn’t all in one go though…we’d climb up a level, look a the displays, climb up another level and so on.  Coming down was a bit more intense as it had less rest breaks, but then again, it was coming down.  I really enjoyed the castle and so did F.

We asked Siri for restaurant recommendations and among the ones he suggested was a place called Budoya or something similar.  We drove there and had a very nice meal in the restaurant.  It was an old converted house I think and was rather charming.  I think it was European style food.  F and I both had hamburger and it was good.  

After our meal we drove back to the hotel, took baths and then went to bed.  I stayed up until 1ish watching TV and reading.

Tuesday
After we checked out we went to an art gallery.  it was okay but had rather too many cherry blossom paintings.  Sort of monotonous after a while!  Still, I liked some and they did have other stuff to make it a little more interesting.  We had lunch at a yakiniku restaurant across from the museum, then F suggested going to a mall.  We ended up at a big mall in Koriyama and did a little shopping.   Wonder of wonders, I got a new shirt and a pair of stretch jeans.  There was a point in the dressing room when I expected them to stop coming up and they didn’t.  Woot!  Mind you, they are very tight, so I may not be able to wear them out of the apartment for a while!

After shopping and then buying some gas we decided to start home.  We drove back towards Yamagata and made good time.  A bit before Yamagata City, I asked F if he wanted to get off the highway and eat in Yamagata or keep going and get something on the road or back in Tsuruoka.  He thought Yamagata was a good idea, so we went to Big Boy.  I like the salad bar, plus I wanted chicken.  I hadn’t had any for days!  We had a nice dinner and then came back home off the highway.  

There were some bad drivers along the way and F was quite frustrated by them.  One that we followed for ages chose to hug the centre line and even went over the line in a few places.  Since there was oncoming traffic in bits, that was quite scary.  

At home, we discovered a mailbox full of newspapers, and a notice that my wool had been delivered but I wasn’t home.  Sigh.  I’ll have to pick it up soon.


We spent the last couple of hours catching up on our virtual lives and trying to feel better.  Anyway it is very late, I’m sick and need to get some sleep.  That’s all there is for now.  Until tomorrow….

No comments: