I'm dreaming of a White Christmas.....

It has been a magical couple of days, having our first snow yesterday morning when we woke up in our Frankfurt Hotel. 

Pheonix awoke at 5am and went to take a look out the window.  He then stated very calmly that it had snowed overnight.  During the trip, Pheonix had been playing 'tricks' a few times, where he would say 'Wow! Look!' and then when we looked, he's say 'tricks!', so I started to say, 'Pheonix, if you tricking us again.....'

Then Sequoia, who had gotten up to look said 'Mum, it really is snowing outside!!!!'  By 0515, we were downstairs enjoying our first winter wonderland!!!!

First glimpse out the window!

 It had only been a fairly light snow, but there was enough to make snowballs.....

Snowfight first up...

Catching snowflakes on her tongue

My snow bunnies

Mini-Snowman....

It was definitely a magical way to start our first day in Germany....

Once we had breakfasted in the hotel dining area (hard boiled eggs, rich pastries, many different types of breads, yoghurt and meat cold-cuts and cheese), we spent a little time hanging out until the sun decided to put in an appearance and we could brave the German autobarn down to Dietenhoffen.

The hire car had less than 10000 klms on the clock when we picked it up and it actually looked like the picture on the booking site.  This whole keep to the right thing has been challenging, but we have done really well in the snow.

We took a side trip to a small village off the autobarn on the way down and we had some delicious coffee and hot chocolates with a lovely lady named Julia when we stopped at her restaurant in the village.

Sequoia and Julia (pronounced Yooyia)

Finally, with much help from the GPS, we made out way to the little village of Goetteldorf.  Our GPS struggled with the actually location of the house and after driving through the few (very narrow streets), we spoke with an old German lady who said something about 'American' and what could have been past the 'kinderboos'.  I remembered seeing a schoolbus stop and went around to it and spotted Andrew and Rachel's house just up the street from there!

I did cry tears of joy when I saw my baby brother for the first time in so many years (I believe it has been about 6 years).  I got to hug my gorgeous sister-in-law and meet my sweet little neice and nephew for the first time.  I also met Rachel's Mom, Judy (Grandma), who is a treasure.  Once the hugs were done, we found ourselves pretty much outside in the snow. 

What else do you do when you're with family in the snow??????  SNOWFIGHT!!!  Both Andrew and I have pretty lame aims, so the kids did a good job of getting us good....with the help of Grandma, who had prepared some pretty mean looking snowballs earlier!

The view from outside Rachel & Andrew's front door

Snowfight!!!!!

Cousins in the Snow - Sequoia, Sophie & Pheonix

Reloading

Girls only

Grandma makes the best snowballs!!!

Andrew and JJ

The newest member of the family.....Frosty!

I never imagined how crazy full-on making a snowman would be....we were frozen to the bone when we were finished with this endeavour.  We started by packing the snow into a ball, and then Pheonix, Andrew and I rolled the balls through the field and they just grew and grew! The spheres were incredibly heavy and difficult to lift and we had to chisel holes into the balls to put in the stick arms, carrot nose and liquorice mouth.  Huge effort by all and we were quite proud of our effort.

Once we had thawed out back inside with some hot chocolate and then a delicious meal of southern-style chicken, salad and home-made bread, Andrew, Rachel, Sequoia and I drove into Ansbach.  Unfortunately, the Christmas Markets had already closed for the night, but I got to sample some warm mulled, spiced wine and then we headed to the warmth of a little cafe for coffees and icecream for the girl.

Can come with or without alcohol - none for Sequoia though 

Andrew and Rachel

It was a fantastic first day with Andrew and the family.  JJ and Sophie are so gorgeous and Andrew, Rachel and Jan have made us feel very welcome (even little mints on our pillows :-) )

Pheonix was well sleep by 2030 (he didn't come to Ansbach with us, but stayed with Grandma and the littlies) but was awake again at 0430.  But on the whole, we seem to be coping quite well with the jet lag.

Baby, It's cold outside....

It's 0741 and we're sitting in our hotel lobby waiting for the sun to arise so we can start our journey to Andrew's place, about 2.5hrs away.

We awoke at about 5 this morning and Pheonix announced to us it was snowing outside!!!! We quickly got all rugged up and ran downstairs! The kids were promptly throwing snowballs and building a little snowman.

I'm keen to get on the road but still a bit nervous....

Sayonara japan

After a very exciting and adventurous couple of days in the land of the cherry blossoms, the time came for us to head off to our next destination, Europe!

An early start to the morning to catch our train found us setting off from the guesthouse at 0730. Fortunately, we did get to see Tomomi and thank her before we left. She was happy to pose for a photo.

We decided to take the bullet train to the airport (hence the shortfall in projected cash requirements yesterday) which was a real treat for Pheonix. At first, he really was disappointed as we went at quite an average speed through the city loop stations (without stopping) but once we were heading out across the bridge towards the airport we were fairly flying along! I think Pheonix was expecting a much more thrilling sideshow ride, but it was very smooth.
Well, another thing ticked off on the bucket list!

The flights were always going to be excruciatingly long - I am still yet to be able to feel my backside again as I sit here in our Frankfurt hotel tonight. With such an early night, we have had the longest day ever!!!

Well, I'm exhausted and you can only get free wifi at our hotel from the lobby (this update is via my iphone) So I'm going to have to put pics and some more about our day including the scary trip in the hire car to the hotel tomorrow....

Two out of three ain't bad

Well...

Today started off not too bad.  Breakfast was beyond yummy and all three off us enjoyed a relaxing take-it-easy kind of morning.  It was hard to get out of bed by 8:30 for breaky (hey, we are on holidays!), especially when it was all toasty warm in our beds.

Today was Kyoto day, so we set off later this morning for what we were hoping to be another action-packed day in Japan.  Alas, it was not meant to be...

 

Firstly, as we were trundling, yes, trundling... - there are three types of general commuter trains in Japan...the Local (stops at every station along the way and takes forever to get to your destination), the Rapid - haha, (which is marginally faster as only seems to stop at every 2nd station) and the Special Rapid train, which stops at only the main stations and seems to travel quite fast.  This is aside from the bullet  trains. Btw, we are taking the Haruka bullet train from Osaka Station to Kansai Airport in the morning (turns a 50 min Rapid Train journey into a 20 minute one)... I have one very happy and excited boy here at the moment...where was I???? Oh yes, we were trundling along on our (crap!!!) Local express train towards eventually Kyoto when I realised that although I had the camera (thanks Kylie - it is like you are here with us!) in its trusty place hanging off my belt, I went to take a photo and realised that, dang, I had left the camera battery still in it's charger back in the room!  Blah.  Well, I still had my (not connected because we are in Japan) iPhone, so I did manage to get a few photos to share, but not a good sign for the day.

We finally arrived at Kyoto station and WOW! You can take the escalators (about 5 levels of them) straight up to the roof of the station for an incredible view of Kyoto city.  There is even a little garden up there. 

Looking down the escalators

 

View out over Osaka





On top of the world!!!


After we took in this marvellous view, we headed to the Tourist information centre (this train station is amazing, complete with upmarket hotel, many shops, restaurants and even a heli-pad!).  Once we got the directions to catch the bus up to the Handicraft Centre, I asked where I could also get some money out.  We were directed to a bank of International ATMs at the post office adjacent to the station.  Pheonix was given a little origami frog by a man from another counter, and we were on our way!

We found the ATMs without much trouble and thats where the fun and games began...we tried to take out 10000 yen from our pre-loaded ANZ TravelCard. No success!!!  We tried another ATM, and the docket kept saying card invalid :-(

So we found a public phone and tried to call the number on the back of the TravelCard.  I wasn't getting through on the phone so we headed back to the Tourist Info Centre and after about 20 mins of the man tapping on a screen and referring to many books, we finally had the prefix numbers for calling out of Japan.  So back to the phone we trooped.  Well, the phone accepted 100yen coins (worth about $1.80 each, roughly).  So I put in about 6 of these coins and was finally talking to someone who introduced himself Ranoosh(?) after going through an interminable list of automated menu options.  I started to tell him about the problem, when the phone suddenly went dead!  Oops...need more yen!  So Pheonix went into a department store right next to where the phone was (I could wave at the servers through the glass) and changed some money for us.

Take two...I get back on the phone to Ranoosh, and he tells me perhaps I need to reset my pin and that he would put me back to the automated menu.  I was saying thank you and goodbye to him before being put through, when Sequoia promptly pushed the lever to hang the call up.  I went absolutely ballistic!!!  She thought the call was finished and was 'helping' by hanging up the phone before the next 100yen coin dropped down (by this point, I had spent over $A35 in 100yen coins).  Japanese people are VERY reserved and here I was yelling 'Why did you do that?????' at my daughter and I'm sure my head spun around on my shoulders a couple of times.  The server in the department store ran out and started giving lollies to my children, probably because she felt sorry for them for having a completely mental mother!!!!  I can laugh now, but at the time I just wanted access to my money!

Well, I called back and did the pin change, which didnt make any difference, still no yen..  I had originally taken what I hoped would be enough cash for our Japan visit, believing that if I did want to access a bit more, I could do so without much trouble.  Transport is soooo expensive in Japan (it was $60 for the return train trip for the 3 of us to Kyoto today, so I was going to need that top-up).

By this time we were watching our bus leave the depot beside us and we would now not make the handicraft session we had booked and had been looking forward to.  The kids ended up having placatory hotdogs and donuts (and a salad sandwich and very strong coffee for me!) before deciding we had had enough of Kyoto and headed back to Oji (but we did have a win here, and scored Special Rapid trains all the way back!)

Back in Oji, we tried our cards in the 7Eleven store on the other side of Oji station, after changing pins etc online.... still no joy!  We saw one of the chefs wandering around and he told us we were definitely not the first travellers to have no access to our money here in Japan and that chances are that we would have no trouble once we hit Europe.  I ended up just using a backup everyday card (which no doubt would have given me pathetic conversion rates and high conversion fees) to withdraw my 10000yen (lowest denomination avail in ATM, worth about $A180). Grrrrr.

Well, it was about dinner time by now, so we headed into the restaurant attached to the Guesthouse.  It is a very cosy little bar with only a few tables.



View from our table



Dinner was....strange.  Delicious and all, they only had one main meal on the menu, some beef ragoul thingy - the rest were all appetisers and pizza.  Oh well, we ended up sharing a spicy sausage (literally a (yes, yummy) sausage sliced up, a small mushroom and cheese pizza (they only had single-serve size pizzas) and 2 potato croquettes. 

The kids had a juice and I washed mine down with a much deserved baileys martini (veeeery nice).  This meal came to about $60, which was by far the most expensive meal we've had a 'taste of' in Japan - our dinner last night was about $35 and we took leftovers with us!  However, I am happy to report that I used my travelcard (just as a test) to pay for the meal and it was a success.  We ended up going to the shopping centre across the road for a much more heartier and reasonably price dessert to fill the bits of our stomach that the meal definitely missed. (The icecream in Japan is amazing!!!) I can see why everyone here is so thin, (tiny portion sizes) but I wonder about health when vegetables aren't very common and there's a Mr Donut on every corner...

I believe I have mentioned there is another family from Cairns staying here at our Guesthouse as well.  Michael and Gabrielle are over here with their kids touring a bit around Japan.  I wanted to mention them here as Sequoia and Pheonix become quite friendly with the other kids and spent an enjoyable evening with them in the lounge tonight, which gave me plenty of time to pack and take inventory of our luggage ready for the morning.

Well, our day sure has been adventurous and tomorrow we are off to Germany to see Andrew, Rachel, Sophie and JJ (can't wait!!!!).  We are all packed and our lovely hosts have made rice balls for us to have an early breakfast before we are off.

We have really loved being in Japan.  The people have on the whole been gracious and gentle, we've done some fun exploring and eaten delicious food.  We have a brief stop in Narita on our way back but the kids and I agree that we'd love to come back here again for a holiday and perhaps spend a couple of weeks.   Maybe one day!

Yougando (where we are staying) has been incredible.  Tomomi and Shingo have been awesome hosts and we have been very comfortable here.  I would recommend anyone to stay here who is looking for a warm and welcoming traditional Japanese experience.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of Tomomi and she had already left for the day by the time we got back from Kyoto.  However, here is a photo of Shingo, who also took very good care of us...

I'm off to sleep now... looong day tomorrow!

These boots were made for walkin....

All three bodies and six feet are aching, but the kids were real troopers with all the walking and exploring with did today...

Osaka is a gorgeous and vibrant city, with lots of people out and about, street performers everywhere and many interesting things to see and do.  We pretty much followed our plan, although we did swap Spa World for dinner in Dotonbori instead, which I think was a good call, as our Okonomoyaki (pancake) was absolutely delicious and our Ryokan (guesthouse) has a spa bath, which we very much enjoyed tonight anyhow :-)

Before I forget, last night during our sustenance wanders, we had the experience of seeing a Japanese Ambulance.  In keeping with the automated messages delivered in almost every public area we have encountered so far, when the ambulance was departing scene, there was a very loud message which I can only guess was 'get out of my way, I'm about to drive very fast....before it promptly sped away!  Perhaps QAS would consider this for our service...I can only imagine what the message might say if any of OUR boys and girls got to do the recording..

This morning began with a yummy breakfast - the traditional shameji mushroom omelette was amazing, and Itoshi would be proud...rice and miso too! 

Then we were off to the train station once more.  Hey, we're actually getting quite good at navigating the Osaka region train networks - of course with Pheonix leading the way, there really shouldn't have been any doubt! Osaka, here we come...

Osaka Castle is amazing to see.  The grounds are beautiful.  My only regret is that being winter, the cherry blossom season is well and truly over.  We did see a few trees that were staunchly hanging on, but I can only imagine what it would look like during the warmer weather.

Both Kylie and Sherren have put in requests for some pics of the Cherry Blossoms.  Unfortunately, I have had to resort to madly hunting for the best picture postcards to bring back :-(

Osaka Castle

This is Sequoia and Pheonix with the QAS Special Response Team mascots, who have been working hard and have decided to come for a holiday with us, in front of Osaka Castle.

   

While we were wandering around the grounds trying to work out where to go to get to the Aquarium, we were approached by a group of university-age students with clipboards who asked we if would do a survey for them.  After the questions such as where we are from and why we are visiting Japan, they asked what we were looking forward to most during our time in Japan.  All I could think of, and said, was to find the subway station to get to the Aquarium.  They thought this was hilarious and probably were the most animated group of people we have seen in the last few days here.  Unfortunately, they were unable to help us with directions as they told us they are visiting students from another city in preparation for a study visit to Australia (Lismore region) next year.  Although the fashion can be quite 'out there' (we saw an adult woman with an Elmo beanie/hat, including red furry side flaps (legs) wrapped around her chin, most people we have seen and met here have been very reserved and gentle.  It was fun to share a joke.

After the castle we headed over to Temozan for the giant (I believe the biggest in the world) Ferris Wheel and Aquarium.  We had some lovely views of Osaka and beyond and shared our carraige with none other than winnie-the-poo!!

The Aquarium is amazing - thanks Michelle for insisting we not miss that one!  It is well set-up with lots of regions of the world and their various marine life and not once was life nor limb threatened during our visit :-)  The kids really enjoyed the petting area, where you could ?pat a manteray or fish...

Aquarium Tunnel

We timed our visit to make sure that we were there towards the end of the day so that we could see the Christmas lights outside the Aquarium lit up. (A few people had said that it was pretty spectacular) As we walked out of the building, we saw that people were gathering in front of a huge unlit luminous tree on the side of the building and decided to go and wait with them and see what happened.  A lady in a santa dress kept coming out and speaking over a microphone and at one stage everyone was looking in wonder at steam rising from the top of the Aquarium building behind us (not sure what that was all about???).  Finally, another lady wheeled out some live penguins and after just standing there for about 20 minutes while corny Christmas music played, wheeled the penguins around the enclosed area for everyone to see.  Then the two penguins were placed on this stand thingy at the bottom of some steps and we enjoyed our first ILLUMINATION DERBY.  The penguins had to race each other up the stairs and then paddle on a sensor pad at the top to make the tree and other decorations light up.  The first one to get to the top was the 'winner' - well the one who made it to the top without being pushed off by the other penguin actually won. !

Go penguin go!!!

Although our feet were feeling a bit battered, we decided that we would head over to Dotonbori for dinner before we headed back to the Ryokan.  We were so glad that we did.  After a little wandering around, we asked a young man who was mending a sign out the front of a shop in one of the vibrant alleys where we could get yummy Okonomoyaki and he personally escorted us to this little shop.  We met the owner, a man by the name of Tenni, who in his limited english told us he has been making his yummy food for over 30 years.  Absolutely delicious!!!!

Tenni has been making Okinomoyaki for over 30 years

Well,  it has been a huge day and we get to get up tomorrow and head up to Kyoto.  We have our handicraft workshop booked, but aside from that, I believe that we will take it easy and just do a bit of wandering and exploring....

Good night all xxx

Our exciting day in Nara

What a deliciously freezing, exciting, fun day.... and a far cry from sweaty sticky Cairns.  It really is quite frosty!  Pheonix just informed me that his lips are all crackled....

As I have already mentioned, our accommodation is gorgeous.  The staff are really friendly and I love the rustic feel of the place. There seem to be lots of little nooks and crannies to explore all around.




Yougendo Ryokan

 

Very inviting and cosy - this is the lobby area



We started the day with an 'interesting' breakfast - a rice porridge with toppings of mushrooms, scrambled egg, ham and seaweed.  Pheonix practically licked his bowl clean, but I must admit Sequoia and I struggled with it a little.  However, we do have a choice between traditional and western-style breaky each morning.  Tomorrow, we are opting for two western-styles (scrambled eggs and ham) and one of some mushroom dish with miso.  Good to give new things a try.... 




Waiting for breakfast....

 

You wouldn't believe it, but there is another western family staying here at the Guesthouse who are from Cairns! Sequoia has already made a new friend, a little girl who is about the same age as her who goes to Peace Lutheran College just down the road from us at home.

Today has been all about Nara.  We caught the rapid train from Oji this morning and took a leisurely stroll up into Nara Park.  It was really lovely to just wander around without having to rush to any particular destination.  Isn't that what holidays are all about?




With the kids all rugged up....

 

.... we headed off to Nara (this is just outside Nara Station)



Nara Information Centre

A nice looking roof!

I just love the look of many of the buildings...so ornate and beautiful, and everything is so little!

The kids insisted that we had to sample Asian McDonalds...Pheonix had a big mac equivalent, and Sequoia and I tucked into a Teriyaki Mcburger.  Not too bad, but we all agreed that one experience was enough.  Our server tried so hard to help us, and then agreed to a photo (we are such tourists!)

I wonder what the non-English speakers actually think this says?

This is at the entrance to Nara Park, a very pretty view across the water...

Angie and Sequoia

We took a stroll around some of the gorgeous buildings (temples) and then headed to the Nara National Museum to get some culture into us....

Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pics inside the museaum, but we saw many 6th Century items, such as pottery, wooden japanese tables and scrolls with little pictures on them.

There was also a sweet little tea-house out the back of the west wing of the museum.  Unfortunately it was closed but very pretty area to look at.

Highlight of the day:  The Deer!!!!!!

They really do need to issue a disclaimer when they sell you the deer biscuits.  Even before the transaction was completed, they are on to you - trying to stick their nobby little heads EVERYWHERE!



Oh deer....he may look all sweet and innocent.....but...





You can't see the deer behind Pheonix, but it's little nubs were headed for somewhere they shouldnt have been...

Hey, now that I look back at the photos, I realise how very good the deer are... they really do seem to be able to be all cute in photos. However, THEY ARE EVIL! I ended up just throwing the cookies in my hand at them and running for my life!!!!  One of the deer who tackle Sequoia actually had blood on it's head...they are viscious, I tell you.....*Twilight Zone theme music plays*



Evidence



Oh well, I'd better get some rest. We are off into Osaka tomorrow and I anticipate another day of fun and adventure.  Hopefully a day with less life-threatening trauma from the wildlife.....