We’re here!  It’s 23 degrees F with 20 – 30 mph winds.  That equals = really really cold.  Sapporo is in the northern most prefecture of Japan.  In order to get here we left Iwakuni at 0630 this morning.  Took a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Hiroshima.  Caught an hour and a half flight on JAL to Shin Chitose Airport.  Then another one hour bus ride to our hotel (Hotel Keio Plaza) in downtown Sapporo.  We arrived at about 1440 and at 1530 we had the option of doing a walking tour of downtown Sapporo with our tour guide.

View from our hotel room.

Note Ferris Wheel in background

Here are some of the sights we saw on our guided walk.

Another interesting sight was how they created bamboo structures around the plants and trees to hold them up under all the snow in the wintertime.

One amazing thing about Sapporo is there is a whole underground city full of shops and people walking to and fro.

Since we were getting pretty cold and hungry and since Sapporo is on the northern coast of Japan and is therefore known for their seafood, we decided to head for the fish market for dinner.  It turned out the fish market was really a fish market and not a dining establishment but as we poked around we found a little place to eat.  And it was all about fresh fish and sashimi.  I had the grilled crab.

Chris’ dinner

Since it was bitter cold we decided to walk back underground.  It was amazing.  So many people in a hurry walking through there, probably going home from work.  Just as busy and crowded as on the street level above but without the cars and the cold.

When we got back to the hotel Chris was still hungry so we found a “pub” across the street to get a beer and a sake and a snack.  This turned out to be quite the experience.  There are all these places where it seems like Japanese business men go after work to eat and drink and smoke cigarettes.  This was one of them.  Chris ordered a beer – which by the way was a Sapporo beer.  But when I ordered my sake the waiter/owner?/whatever brought this little box.  He put my glass in the box and proceeded to pour the sake from a large bottle into my glass until it overflowed and filled the little box.  I’d never seen anything like it before.

Local Sake

After I drank my glass I had to ask what to do with the sake in the box.  He said to pour it into my glass, which I did – many times.  Then as we were leaving I tried to ask him what the history behind the box was and the next thing we knew he grabbed the box, wiped it out with his apron and tucked it under Chris’ cap which he was holding in his hands.  I think this will be the best memento of this trip ever.

By the way, did I mention that it’s snowing?

Nothing like digging your bike out for the commute home.

I just wanted to share my Christmas present from Chris which I just got.

Imari Porcelain Sake Set

This Imari porcelain is from the oldest original ceramic ware in Japan and has been produced continuously since the late 17th century.  Sake tastes really good when sipped from these tiny cups.

Tomorrow we leave bright and early for a 4 day trip to Sapporo and the great Sapporo Snow Festival.

Once again Chris and I are together in Japan.  At last.  Even though it’s just for a few weeks it’s still great to be here.  My flight over was amazingly long.  I left Coronado at 4pm on Wednesday, 1st flight left at 5:30pm to LAX.  2nd flight left LAX at 12:02am on Thursday.  We flew out over the ocean – off to Japan.  But then the plane turned right and flew north up the Central Valley of California, east of San Luis Obispo, up along the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, over Napa and Ukiah and finally at Eureka we headed out to sea.

ANA Nippon Airlines

Just after we were airborne, we were served a snack.  Then 9 hours later we were served a Japanese breakfast.  I wish I could have reached my camera to take a picture of it because it was quite something.  This breakfast consisted of rice, teriyaki salmon, vegees including lotus root and edamame, buckwheat noodles, tofu, thinly sliced hot pink things, pineapple, cantelope and honeydew melon slices, and a 1″ square of sweet cake.  Oh, and a cup of miso soup.  And tea, of course.  It’s still the middle of the night outside – 2:30am in Japan.

I arrived in Tokyo/Haneda at 11:45am Thursday – California time.  (0445 on Friday – Japan time.)  That means we were in the air from LAX to Tokyo for 12 hours!  And it was pitch black outside the entire time.  At this hour of the morning going through customs and immigration and baggage claim was a breeze.  From here I took a shuttle from the International terminal to Terminal 2.  The airport is so big it took 15 minutes to get there.  (And this is the smaller of the two airports in Tokyo.)  After de-icing the plane we were on our way to Iwakuni at 0930.  And by noon Chris and I were together again.

As you recall, when I left Japan last Sept. our furniture had not yet arrived.  So when Chris got home from our Corsica trip he had the task of receiving our stuff and organizing our Japan house.  He did a great job and it’s been fun to see everything here.  It certainly feels like home now.  My job while I’m here is to pick up where Chris left off and finish getting things organized.  Should be fun.

Great news!  I’m heading back to Japan for a nice long visit.  Yea!  I leave next week and can hardly wait.

Yesterday’s sunset in Coronado

Chris has some great trips planned for us.  Three days after I get there we’re headed for Sapporo for their Winter Snow Festival.  Here we’ll see amazing ice sculptures and lots of snow I hope.  Then a few weeks later we’re off to Thailand for some sailing and snorkeling around the islands off of Phuket.

Paradise

Stay tuned for some serious blogging in the very near future.

So, this post is dedicated to the facts and data men in my life.  This one’s for you (with a little frivolity for the rest of us).

the hard stuff

When I started writing this blog last July I intended it to be 1) a journal for me to remember this time, and 2) a way to share our experiences with family and close friends without having to send emails to everyone.  It’s been an interesting process to be sure.

it rained yesterday

I’m creating this blog on a website called “wordpress” which was recommended by my social media wizard, Lauren.  At the end of 2014 wordpress shared  a summary of who visited my little blog over the past 6 months.  This is what I learned.  My blog was viewed 1,300 times from 11 different countries.  Here’s a breakdown of the countries and their visits.

6  – France

3  – Netherlands

18 – Austria

1  – Croatia

1  – Serbia

4  – Sweden

1  – Phillippines

132 – Japan

2  – Canada

1,882 – USA

Now, is that amazing or what?  I’m just overwhelmed by this information.  I can assure you that I don’t have family or friends in all these places – although it would be great to have friends all over the world.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reads this little blog.  It’s really fun to share the experiences we are having in this chapter of our lives.

isn’t this cool!

Greetings,

We just wanted to send a special wish for a happy and healthy new year to each and every one of you.

from Chris and gwen

Greetings from Coronado

Greetings from Iwakuni

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.  The Haynes family spent their Christmas spread around the globe.  In case you ever wondered what Santa does once he finishes his early morning rounds he returns to Coronado for some fun in the sun.

Surf’s Up!

Meanwhile it’s winter in Coronado.

Just passin’ through

Aside from some big surf from a passing storm

it’s just business as usual.

Sand castle building

and of course ice skating

A very low key Christmas for us this year as we are all scatter around the globe.  But big plans are in the works for next year!

(I see I forgot to send this blog so I’ll send it now.  opps)

Aside from visiting friends here in Olympia, I had one more goal to accomplish.  There is a sign here that I’ve always been attracted to.  It’s a wood carving of a swan in the Northwest Native American style.  It is at the home of Jerry Swan.  And Swan is a family name of mine.  It was my paternal grandmother’s maiden name and my father’s middle name.  (And, my niece Rebecca’s middle name.)  So it’s kind of special and since we spent so much time in the Northwest I really liked the artwork.

So, today I met Jerry Swan who I learned designed and carved the sign himself some twenty years ago.  I’ve always wanted to take a rubbing of the sign to use as a template which would become the pattern for a quilt/wall hanging.  Jerry was wonderful and happy to share his sign with me.

The Swan

Today I got my wish and now have a life size rubbing/pattern to make my very own Northwest Swan.

After a lazy Friday at Buckhorn we headed into the big city of Ashland to watch Santa light up the Christmas tree and the downtown shops.  We visited more friends and drank more IPA.

Here are a few more pictures of Buckhorn.

On Saturday the four of us drove all the way back to Seattle from Ashland – a very long drive, and then stopped at a brew pub on Capital Hill for dinner.  After dropping Justin and Lauren off at their apartment and saying our goodbye’s we headed for a hotel close to SeaTac airport.

On Sunday morning I dropped Chris off at the airport for his return trip to Japan.  After a miserably long flight Chris made it home very late Monday night and was up early Tuesday morning for work.  He is now one tired puppy.

I have continued south to Olympia where I am staying with friends and visiting more friends.  It’s so much fun to see everyone again and catch up with our various lives.

The view from my room