Red lights

From my hotel window, each building seems to have a red light at the top. Doesn't come out too well in photos, but quite noticeable.

Big Breakfast

This hotel needs a map to find your way around - there are three towers, all with different entrances and receptions, but linked in mysterious ways!  This morning, I wandered over to the Main Tower's breakfast room, to see if their Western Buffet was more western than in the Annex Tower's dining room.

This was the queue!  It went around the corner.

Undaunted, and confident in Japanese systems management, I joined it.  It moved quite quickly and I was found a table in the middle.  You are given a table number and a card to show that it is yours.  Nothing is touched until you ask. So you can leave your half-eaten plate of food on the table while to go to look for something else. Usually I ask Kin Mun to not let the staff clear my plate!

This is the dining-room.  Massive, but as you expect in Japan, well organised.

The food was much the same, but this morning I began to understand it better.  The plain bread is in fact toasted on one side.  The fried eggs are served in an individual little bowl and the default is hard - I was overjoyed!  Normally I have to beg the egg-cook to cook the egg longer and they look at me puzzled.

First day in Japan

Day flight to Tokyo yesterday, 14th  June.  A good flight, this time on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  A long day, but it all worked out.

Today I went to Yuzawaya - a sewing/craft/gadgets etc shop - think Spotlight and Hobbysew merged together and on steroids.  It was lot of fun.  Google Translate was much used, as there wasn't much in English.  There were racks of needles, all described in Japanese.  I looked at one packet -  Google Translate told me that it for fine material.  Too many others to check each one!

Today's haul (not all for me)....... 

The fabrics are cheaper than we get in Australia - about $8.00 a metre here for something that is over $20 a metre - but it would take a lot of material to pay for the air-fare!

Yuzawaya is in Kamata, a suburb of Tokyo, and it was surprisingly quiet.  I have learned to recognise the characters for the name of the store - but helpfully they are written in red!  

That is just Building 5.  There is also 6 and 7, further down the road.  My feet were sore - the classic "tired but happy".

I had lunch at a random noodle place, wasn't sure what was coming, it turned out that I had ordered soup, pork and noodles plus a plate of gyoza.  I wasn't hungry afterwards.  

But I needed coffee and ice-cream.  After more shopping at Yuzawaya, I remembered there was a Maccas down the road.  They were also selling a Mac-samurai, but stuck to my coffee. 

. So end of day 1.  The tour starts tomorrow afternoon.

 

ANA were e

Peter and Mary's fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration

We left Sydney on 10th June for my brother's and sister-in-law's fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration.  It was a wonderful party, a chance for three of us to meet up, to catch up with three nieces and nephew, as well as people who I had grown up with!

Pete has some memories of Smithfield!

 The celebration:

Party pics:

The cake! Made by Joan.

Random Gladstone pics.  

At the town centre, we found the Islamic Society of Gladstone was hosting a festival, which included giving our free food - Indian sweets and Butter Chicken and rice.  Another side to Gladstone!

And the trip back to Brisbane.

SFO rocks!

None of our fears (about making our transfer) eventuated  The cabin crew (on our flight from Mexico City to SFO) arranged for those with connections to get off  first.  The immigration fellow was efficient  and  cheerful, our luggage was waiting and we took it to be checked through. About 35 minutes all up!  Amazing. Completely different experience  of SFO from our inward journey.  Not sure what went right - arriving at night? Or learning to cope with US airports?

Anyhow, now on board the flight home.   We completely miss the 11th (sorry, Robyn!)  and home Friday morning.  

Immigration fellow asked us why we had to get visas - did we go parachuting in Iraq?  We are scarred  for life.  

Mexico - the gift that keeps on giving!

 We arrived at Torreon airport for out flight to Mexico City.  We discovered the flight was overbooked, and we had been bumped. We did not have an assigned seat, something apparently the travel agent should have done. But she hadn't.  After much kerfuffle, we were rebooked on a flight 5 hours later! We got food vouchers and now eating at Gastro Bar and Cafe! I kid you not! Nice ice-cream and now waiting for coffee. Just as well KM had built lots of time into our flight plans.

Also got 5000peso credit to a future flight with Aero Mexico.

The 4pm flight was a 737Max! Presume so is ours. Hopefully Boeing has trained AeroMexico pilots how to handle the flight manager.

Eclipse Day

 We dressed appropriately for breakfast

Preparation

Waiting

Totality! In the third pic, you can see Venus.

Changing shadows.  A strange phenomenon of eclipses is changing shadows as totality approaches.  Unusually, as the light becomes duller, the shadows become sharper - the opposite of  what we experience at dusk. These are shadows on the lawn, taken as totality aproached.

We were very happy with our decision to sleep in and risk the clouds.  Not super-perfect, but we saw an eclipse!

Eclipse matters.

Tomorrow - April 8th in Mexico - is eclipse day.

We  began to see some posters about it, and our hotel had some eclipse goodies. 

High cirrus clouds are forecast for tomorrow.  I gather this means not thick thunderstorm clouds that obscure everything, but you may be able to see something of the eclipse through them.  However the organiser is offering an option - a three hour bus ride to ?Django, which involves a 6am departure, and uncertain breakfast and lunch.  We were warned it would be "rugged".  Chances there are better, but the eclipse will be shorter.  Most are going, but we have decided to stay and take our chances.

More after tomorrow!