erudity.net prattlings on via nattering nabobs

Quick Update

Kendra signed us up for something of a rarity - a tour of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo and a greeting/blessing by the Emperor and the Royal Family on the 2nd.  With the exception of this event, the Imperial Palace is closed to the public, so it was a unique experience to say the least.  Everyone

The evening after New Years we went to Sharon's going away party in Yokohama.  Sharon is Kendra's coworker and has the good fortune to be leaving Japan shortly, so her friends threw her said party.  Kendra and I were the first to arrive and discover that the place she had planned for, The Green Sheep, was closed until the 4th.  (Later we would discover that many, many more places were closed until the 4th, but I digress...)  Kendra was bummed for a bit but the whole group met up in rather short order and after wandering for a couple blocks found a different British-style pub to hold the festivities.  We all had a great time and even met some of the locals including some flamboyant ones that were extremely friendly with Sharon's husband.

We took the 3rd easy and then on the 4th boarded the bullet train from Yokohama to Kyoto, traveling 288 miles in two hours - not bad, a lot less cramped than planes and we just walked up to the station to board the train.  In our three days in Kyoto we saw the Golden Pavilion, Nijo Castle, Fushimi Inari Shrine, Yasaka Shrine, Gion, Kiyomizu Temple, and got to know the bus and subway system rather well, as well as braving some intensely cold weather.

More to come later - especially pictures.