Grand Hotel Shonan Kamakura

... the train was loaded up with teenagers and we decided we'd keep our seats and try somewhere else. We ended up getting off in Fujisawa and finding a restaurant there for dinner. Completely & totally Japanese. I had a fried tempura with seafood and soba noodles and Chrystal had a chicken bowl. We both were so glad for pictures on the menu!

After that we made our way back to the house and to bed for the next round of adventuring!

... to get in... not happening.. so we turned around and went into the first bar we could find. It was very low key and chill. I didn't stay long because at this point my feet were throbbing and I could barely keep my eyes open (literally falling asleep at the bar). Sad, lame ending to the day, I know, but I played the "I'm an old lady and need my sleep" card and took a taxi home while my classmates tore it up for several hours after I left. We have a free day ...

... trip back to Shinjuku station. Back at the station we encountered the evening rush hour crowd and were swept into a sea of humanity as we made our way back home. Back in our hotel I fell into an exhausted stupor of sensory overload. I sent Marty over to Takashi Times Square to brave the food court. After wondering up and down the aisles looking at food he couldn't identify he muttering that I did this to him on purpose and set him up for this experience ...

After the breakfast at home (thanks to my mother), we took the "yokohama line" to "Ofuna" station, then took a monorail to "Enoshima"station, then took the "Enoden line" to KAMAKURA.

First, we got off at "hase" station and visited "Kotokuin" temple to view the Great Budda.

Next, we got off at "kamakura" station ...

... utopian vision of self-sustainable communities. At least it has a Starbucks. I took a walk through the Hills, people around here are the young, professional 'salarymen' and the fashionable housewives. I did take a walk down to the Starbucks to have a look and in true Roppongi style, the shop has been fused with a bookshop. It's wonderfully laid out with seats circling the magazine racks and has an open policy on people reading the shop literature whilst drinking coffee. Sadly ...

... us.  Before leaving we managed to eat at an incredibly hip Japanese tapas type place.            The next day we got up to eat at the hotel restaurant, Organic House.  I am open to trying different things, but this was a bit to organic for me.  At breakfast, somehow, we won't go into details, all of Mark's photos from the first part of the trip, were deleted.  Mark handled it very well...saying he sometimes gets too obsessed with photos and maybe this ...

... says that they copy the sutras over and over, meditating on the words and the zen-ness of the gardens... I can see where the discipline comes in, because it would be difficult not to sit and gaze endlessly at the beautifully manicured gardens around the expanse of zen sand in front of us. It was the first time that I saw non-monk-types in a temple participating in the religion (aside from the quick prayers that everyone does at altars, of ...

... school. (PS- if you didn't know all Kabuki actors are male, some specialize in female roles). She disappeared to change into the Lion costume and two children who were supposed to be butterflies appeared in traditional Edo period (18th century) kimono. They did a cute butterfly dance and the Lion appeared- the lady in waiting had been taken over by the spirit of the Lion and was now wearing fierce makeup and a humungous mane. The dance was much more masculine with more drums and ...

... out of my element will put me into my true element...hopefully a little wiser, a little stronger...a little better than the person I am today. I don't expect many to relate to the experiences written on these faux pages. They are my own. Mine. Interpretations, opinions, emotional jargon that may or may not make sense even to myself. 8 ...

... really separated from the rest of the cabin since it's on a whole different level and the monitors. It's really nifty in my opinion. In the back of my mind I can't help but chuckle at the image I must have. I'm wearing a pair of jeans with a small worn hole on one knee, and another hole budding on the other knee. My t-shirt is old and the image is faded as well as the black color of the cloth. I'm lugging around my ...