The weekend

Took yesterday off so time to catch up. We hung around in Kyoto for bit yesterday (Saturday) morning. We drove down to Gion by the river, parked the car, and walked along the river. We saw Great Blue Herons, Black-Crowned Night Herons, Hawks, big Snowy Egrets and a few small birds we are unfamiliar with. People jog, bike, fish and walk along the river. It was a really nice morning. Then, Joe humored me again. We drove across town to see a famous garden, Katsura Rikyu. However, after we arrived we found out that you needed a special permit to get in. Bummer. We ran into a European who had just left and he said it was the most beautiful garden and well worth the effort. So, that garden is on our list for our next trip back.

Then, we headed south to Uji to see Byodo-in, a famous building with a garden. It was pretty. We paid and walked the gardens, but we did not pay to go in the Phoenix Hall as a garden was our goal. We did go through the new museum at the end quickly. It housed the actual art from the building-lots of sculpture. Very beautiful-both the artifacts and the building itself. No photography allowed which was a bummer.

Then, we headed back to Nagoya on our way to Anjo which was the closest place we could get a room for the big airshow in Hamamatsu today. We decided to drive through Nagoya not on an expressway. I think we both regret it now. It must have taken use 2 hours just to go from north central Nagoya to south eastern Nagoya on a major street. We finally arrived in Anjo and were able to secure a washing machine. It appears that everyone brings their laundry to the Toyoko-Inn when they stay. Some are obvious visitors such as ourselves but most a locals. Maybe they don't have a washer/dryer. It is clear that most people in Japan do not have a dryer as the balconies are the drying location for laundry. They are even equipped with apparatus from which to hang your clothes.

After we got the laundry done, we walked (We had successfully parked the car in the elevator garage without assistance.) to find dinner. After not much success finding anything more appealing, we went to Russo's Italian which was clearly a hopping joint. It was sort of like Cici's in that it was a buffet but then you also ordered a pasta dish that came in 19 minutes after you ordered - at least that is what we think the waiter said. At first I thought he was saying you had to eat in 19 minutes and get out, but Joe assured me that wasn't the case.

The buffet consisted of pizza- 4 different types: cheese, pepperoni, some type of white sauce pizza that looked like it had soy sauce on it and maybe some fish, and then something that resembled supreme. The rest of the buffet was anything but Italian: French fries, onion rings, chicken nuggets (actual chicken breast!), two different kinds of fish, corn salad, cabbage salad, toss salad, pickled carrots, and maybe something else. You had eight different pastas from which to choose. Being myself, I went safe with a roasted garlic spaghetti. Joe went for the meat sauce spaghetti. The roasted garlic was terrific. The noodles were al dente and the garlic sauce had piece of roasted garlic and sliver of dried red hot peppers. Joe's meat sauce must have been a little sketchy as he didn't eat it all. Of course, it was topped with a poached egg. Pretty typical to find a poached egg on top of your food here evidently.

Today, we had the airshow. We had about a 1 1/2 hour drive so we had an early start as we had been told to arrive early for the show. We got there right on schedule at 7:00 with fairly heavy cloud cover. We followed the cars in front of us to the parking since we couldn't read especially signs posted everywhere and followed people to the airfield. It was about a kilometer to the gate. People were already lined up. We got in and rode a bus to the show. Unfortunately the cloud cover persisted so our photos aren't what we had hoped for. In a way it was good because we were on the wrong side of the air base. We should have just shot the static and left to go hang out on the side of the rods, but hesitated too long and then the show started. The majority of the show was performed by the local units: E-767, T4s, UH-60J, U-125 and then there was a F-15 demo, a F-2 demo and the Blue Impulse- their air force demonstration team. It was VERY crowded. I have never seen so many people at an airshow. We stayed and waited for the famous after airshow flyout of the statics which never materialized.

Now, we're on our way to the east side of Tokyo so we are ready to visit Huykuri Air Base In the AM, home to two F4 Squadrons!. There isn't a clear pathway across on expressways so I'm not looking forward to it -especially in the dark. Wish us luck and no clouds tomorrow!