Narita U-city Hotel

November 17, 2009<br><br><br><br>Good evening all!<br><br>Today was another rained out day. We sat in the break room reading, talking and laughing. Mel said on Saturday that he had emailed a friend that we were "three fat guys sitting around eating Japanese snakes!" (what he meant was Japanese snacks &#8211; we all got a kick out of that but I guess you had to be there) So ...

... if I will every tire of the kids looking at Santa with those eyes filled with wonder, enjoying the magic for maybe the first time. And of course there are those who come and lean back and settle into my beard and tummy &#8211; oh it makes me smile! I suppose it is a little taste of what I will feel with a grandbaby!<br><br>The other guys have had days off and, in our tradition, made dinner for the three of us. Mel made a dish that his mom used to make of corn, sausage, potatoes ...

We had a two hour delay leaving Detroit. First there was a minor repair in the cockpit. Then they found they needed to repressurize the brakes. There were a lot of connections that had to be rescheduled and a few flights that they held in Narita because of the number of transits on our flight. None of this affected my itinerary other than reducing my time in Narita ...

... have no idea what it was, but it was good. Our train arrived and we were off for the next stop, Keisei Narita Station. Once there we got off , went out an exit, observed our hotel about a block away, started making our way, luggage in tow. We discovered the JR Narita Station across the street. Apparently we could have just gotten off there, and hour earlier. Oh well. We are now at the Mercure Hotel in Narita, and have time for a quick shower as Eve calls ...

... we were both so hungry and this was all that Angus had been looking forward to :) We both got a bit of a kick out of it though (Angus later when he had food in his rumbling stomach). We decided after the bakery to go in search of food - I was desperate for my favourite Japanese store Yoshinoya and Angus just wanted a 100Y cheeseburger. We went for a look but got distracted by a small 100Y convenience store where we bought enough chocolate biscuits to keep our sugar levels up. We ...

Before heading to the airport, we headed to temple Naritasan Shinsoji which is actually a few temples set on a large park with garden paths, ponds and trees. Quite relaxing and nice end to the trip. Stopped over for some ramen at Ramen Bayashi (553-9 Hanasaki-cho) -- while it's a popular spot for tourists, the food was great and reasonably priced.

... ventured up to the 5th floor and the onsen, not too sure what we were letting ourselves in for. We were the only westerners staying at our hotel and not one word of any signage was written in anything other than Japanese. However, as one entrance curtain was blue and the other red, we gathered that the baths were gender segregated which thankfully confirmed the Lonely Planet`s information. Inside (no photos, sorry) there was a disrobing room with sinks ...

... little different than what we are used to here in the states. First, most of them have hot and cold drinks in them. I was a little chili one day while standing out in the middle of a dry rice paddy working on some equipment, so I walked over to the vending machine, and got myself a hot green tea. It was great. The other interesting thing about the vending machines in ...

... larger and wider then those in Paris and New York - double their sizes. Another fascinating observation about Tokyo was the direction of pedestrians walking to and from work. They seemed like little ants marching in lines in their dark business suites. They all appeared to have cell phone, but nobody was talking, they're were surfing the net, playing games, and god knows what else. In the subways, in the streets, young and old all ...

... me. Proceeding to domestic departures was not a problem. My flight to Fukuoka will depart at 10.30 a.m. so in about 1 hour. So far I have not had a chance to speak Japanese, except at the domestic security. Narita is still all English area. Well, I will write again, once I find another one of these internet machines, which cost 100 yen (USD 0.90 per 10 mins) in Fukuoka.