We arrive in Tokyo

Wednesday 18 September

We arrive in Tokyo

We had much more leg room in this plane and were lucky enough to have a spare seat in the middle four which meant we could put our bits and pieces out of the way.  I watched a film called "Weight of Elephants" sponsored by the NZ Film Commission - supportive to the last - but it was a bit dour, didn't really get it, could have been the interruptions from the flight deck and the meal served three quarters of the way through!  Anyway time to settle down and battle for some sleep.  I decided to take a 'Sealegs' pill as they usually make me drowsy, and I slept well.  The seats slid down rather than tilt back, so it prevented the person in front coming back on to me.

These lovely cabin stewards came round bowing and offering us an early morning cup of tea, green of course, although there was some dodgy looking brown stuff, I went with the green!

We had breakfast and only had an hour to go before landing at Tokyo aIrport.

We had arranged transport from the airport to our hotel, The Shinjuku Washington, at an enormous cost (over $NZ500 return for both of us), the airport is so far out of the capital it took 2 hours to get there and that was mid afternoon when the traffic was light.  We were met by a charming and efficient young lady with our name on a board, she took our trolley with our bags and guided us through the throngs of people and out to another huge area with 'limousine' buses  pulling up every minute and taking the queues of people to their respective destinations.  We were a bit early so she suggested we have a cup of tea in the cafe, but we really wanted to get to the right bus stop and wait.  'Sit here and I will be back to get you" she said.  So we had a fascinating 20 minutes watching the limousine buses come and go and the team of 'porters' all dressed in the bus company livery, sorting out all the luggage, labelling it and putting it on the buses, they were literally running to each bus and the passengers just got on and sat down, brilliant!  It was the same at the hotel, baggage off and off we went.

It was quite a thrill to be in Tokyo, although I did find it hard at first to find something typically Japanese, big 6 lane motorways all look the same, except for the traffic signs.

 
They were all in Japanese hieroglyphs with small words underneath, how any tourist finds their way around without a Japanese 'Ken' I don't know.  

I took as many photos as I could in a speeding bus and I was left with the impression that to cope with the pressure of people they must all live in high rise apartments.

 I was also surprised at how much water there is, we seemed to be constantly driving over canals, rivers and passed lakes

Wikipedia: "Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634.0 metres in March 2011, ... "

There was a lot of countryside on the way to the city and it was covered mainly in paddy fields,

even some of the houses had rice growing in their backyard.  

But as for something Japanese looking, except for a cemetery,

I would have to be patient.

The pressure of people coming home from work, it is a sea of white shirts and black trousers, maybe an occasional blue shirt somewhere.....?

We arrived at our hotel, and I have to admit to being a bit deflated when entering the ground floor to find a little information desk, lost amongst an assortment of shops.  The nice guy checked us in and told us to get the lift to the third floor.  The third floor looked far more like a hotel lobby, very busy but we were expected and they gave us a double room on the 13th floor!  Superstitious? Me?? So we found our room and squeezed in, maybe if we had asked for twin beds we would have got a better room.  

So we moved around like waltzing together, unpacking the bare essentials and stowing our bags under the desk which was pretending to be a business centre with the tv, pad for writing and the office chair. We did at least have a small tray with a couple of cups and some sachets of green tea and sugar.  We also had the tiniest of fridges, but nothing in it of course.  I will pass on the wardrobe and bathroom except to say that the door should be closed at all times!  We did however have a small pair of plastic slippers each, with a label which said "disinfected", plus a long shoe horn and a clothes brush!  I found the hair dryer the next morning.  I did find it a little disconcerting to see a notice on the bedside table that said "Please refrain from smoking in bed".

There were two restaurants in the building, one on the 25th floor called the 'Manhattan' which was very expensive, and the 'Baron' on the ground floor which was a brasserie, also serving breakfasts.  We chose the 'Baron', a bit disappointed they didn't have Japanese food, so settled for a Pizza for David and Jambayala for me with an entree of cold cuts.

After our meal we did a little exploring, to try and get out bearings and saw this pokie 'bar' which had a privacy screen on the outside - so of course I took a photo and put it on the web!!

Up the escalator to the 3rd floor - this hotel is very much into wedding receptions!

Packing, tick, farewells, tick, Heathrow, tick

Tuesday 17 September

Packing, tick, farewells, tick, Heathrow, tick.

Early start, no mucking about, solve packing overweight problem - left some behind for Rach to send on with next parcel!

We said our brave farewells to the children

 

and we watched them leave in the car.  

Last session with Hannah before Tess arrived at 9.45 and we had a brief chat, big hug for Hannah and we were out of the door.  

We had a good run with no hold ups and arrived at the airport in good time.  Rachel parked the car and we piled our luggage on a trolley and headed for the check in.  We walked the length of the terminal before coming to gate A which told us it was being refurbished and that we were to go back to the start!  No worries we had plenty of time.  We went back to where we had come in and waited at the end of the long queue and after about five minutes David wandered off to check the gate where we checked in, we were waiting in a queue for Wales!! The one we needed was right there in front of us and had no one waiting, how strange we thought, but we wheeled our trolley in and we got checked in straight away, our cases were fine.  So off for a coffee and pastry.  I realised that I only had shorts on and I would probably need my travel trousers, fortunately they were in my carry on bag, so quickly got them out and went to the ladies to change.  I caught up with Rach and David at 'Paul's' where Rachel had bought me my favourite pastry, 'Escargot au raisin', well I had to take a photo of this to jog my memory...

..... couldn't find my iPhone, "DONT PANIC, DONT PANIC" as I  searched through my bags, Rach and David searched all around the trolley, Rach and I set off to retrace our steps, she went to the ladies and I scanned the floor asking a few people on the way if they had seen it, I looked and looked, ended up at the check in counter as hope was fading, and lo and behold, there it was, relief flooding back, I could have kissed her, but she was British!  I didn't get away with it that easy though, she asked me a few searching questions like describe the screen saver on my phone - easy my lovely family in Hanmer last holiday with Liam in the pushchair.  No issues.  So I hugged my iPhone instead and flew back down the terminal to my 'Escargot au raisin' and to a relieved Rachel and David.  Rachel assured me that nothing else could go wrong because three things were over!  Me? Superstitious?

We got on the plane, no problems, just a short flight, 1hr 50m, we made good time and landed about 5 minutes ahead of time.  Then we stopped taxiing, and waited, the captain came over the audio to tell us that we had a short wait until the plane sitting at our gate had moved off.  15 mins later the captain again apologising and saying that they were doing all they could, etc, etc.  And this was a British Airways plane, could understand it if it was Easyjet!  We were stuck on the Tarmac for 40 mins, the poor captain was beside himself, he kept us up to date, but... he told us to complain to BA because this wasn't good enough, it happens too frequently.  Some people missed connections, they were able to hold a plane to San Francisco which many passengers were on.  He was at the door when we left the plane, still apologising.  I gave him full marks for keeping us informed, luckily for us it had no impact because our plane to Tokyo wasn't due to leave for another 5 hours.

We checked in to departures and got all the customs things over with and had 5 hours to wait util boarding our plane to Tokyo.  We were getting a bit hungry so looked for somewhere to eat, whatever we did we had to pay twice the normal price, so we saw an English type pub and had a burger and chips.  Next to us was a couple from Dallas, Texas, who go overseas regularly, but never as far as Noo Zealand!  We had quite a long chat to them and it helped pass the time.

The ANA (All Nippon Airways) departures lounge wasn't open until about an hour before take off, but we managed to spend the time reading, etc.

When it opened we sat in there and watched people - becoming one of my hobbies.  There were a couple of Mums with strollers and small babies, and the lovely Japanese cabin stewards took such care of them.  There was one mum with a small baby in her arms trying to fold down her stroller and a male steward took the baby, he did so well, he must be a dad!

As they were boarding David and I were sitting watching and surrounded by our take-on backpacks and luggage, and this same charming male (of Arabic descent) cabin steward came over and asked us if we would like some help and boarded us early.  There some advantages in being grey!

So that was a very good start to our flight of 11.45 hours to Tokyo.  We were lucky enough to have a spare seat in our centre 4 and it made the world of difference being able to spread out a bit.  We had a nice meal around 9.00pm and a glass of wine.  I have to say that Air Nippon cabin stewards are the best I have come across, they ALWAYS smile, are helpful and willing to run around passengers to ensure their comfort, and the best thing is they fold the ends of the toilet paper into a triangle - each time I went to the toilet it had been wiped down and the toilet paper was folded.  Totally unbeatable service!!!

Last day with all our French family

Sunday 15 September

Last day with all our French family

It feels a little strange that today is the last day we will see James, he is off to Hamburg very early tomorrow morning.  It was another lovely late summer morning, not quite as warm as it has been but blue skies and gentle breeze.  It has been quite noticeable that the temperature has dropped, Rachel assures me that there is more hot weather ahead, I hope so, they had such a long wet winter.

A late breakfast then we all got ready to go to church.  It had been some time since they had a Sunday free, so it was fitting that we should all go on our last Sunday.  A nice drive out into the country again.  

We were made very welcome at the church, it was so informal and yet followed the patten of songs, prayers, sermon and communion.  There were several announcements and at the end the children were all called out to stand on the front, and Jasper's birthday was celebrated, he got a round of 'Happy Birthday' and a nice card that the pastor had signed.

 

The children then went to one of the rooms at the back where their Sunday school teachers kept them happy and interested.

We were home for lunch about 1.00pm. And Rachel made us lunch.  

Jasper and Penelope decided to try some new ways to wear a 'beany cushion' and dress up while we were waiting,

 

and after lunch we decided to go 'blackberrying', something I haven't done in many years.  The kids all had containers that Rachel had made out of plastic bottles with the tops cut off and string attached.  

Rachel tries to go for a walk around the farmland and lake as often as she can, and has watched these blackberries develop and grow and she reckoned that today was just about the right time to pick them.  So off we went, it was such good fun, the kids were trying to compete for the most blackberries and Penelope was being very particular about not picking the small scrawny ones.  

James went for the high ones, he and Jasper were a good team, Jasper found a good stick which he sat and whittled with his new Swiss army knife and removed all the bark, then he tried to reach and bring down the high branches for James to pick the fruit, unfortunately James broke the stick, so was in the dog box for a while, but not for long.

 

 When we got home we washed the blackberries thoroughly, peeled and cut up some apples, Rachel made some gluten free pastry and Jasper decorated the pie. Voila !!

We had Raclette for dinner, we last had this in Klosters where the apartment had a proper Raclette set, but Rachel and James managed fine using the hot plate they usually make crepes on, so it was a great way to spend our last meal together as a family.

Our last full day at our 'home' in Toulouse

Monday 16 September

Our last full day at our 'home' in Toulouse

It's hard to believe that this is our last full day at our 'home' in Toulouse how lucky are we to have been able to see so many places, experience the French culture and be part of our family overseas.  James and Rachel have gone out of their way to make sure we saw as much of Europe as we could and for the most part have driven us around and holiday'd with us.  

We have both been able to revise our school French and have had no trouble communicating in one way or another with the French, and for that matter other languages also.  But today will be busy.

I have enjoyed spending some time with Hannah while Rachel takes Penelope and Jasper to school in the morning. Hannah understands that this is the time for home schooling so she gets dressed and washed and finds an activity we can do together until Mum gets back.  Painting after breakfast has been the popular choice and we paint together, I tend to be a bit of a scribbler and am quite fond of telling stories that start with "when I was little...." while I fill in the spaces with colour, so we have little discussions and big colours!  Today her teacher aid came, her name is Tess and she is a French Canadian so speaks French and English fluently, her gentle nature and encouraging we ideas is just what Hannah needs, they have set up a blog for Hannah and it shows her baking, going to the shops etc.  I will keep reading.

When Rachel came back we decided to have one last trip to Toulouse and have a nice farewell lunch.  We thought we would go by Metro, but we couldn't find a car park, so Rachel dropped us off and she went searching at another station further back.  We arranged to meet at Midica a lovely home wares store where we were hoping to buy something we could take back home as a memento of Toulouse.

We had a look through and bearing in mind weight and size to go in our suitcases we weren't having much luck.  We met up with Rachel about 15 mins later and she showed us the crockery department, we were spoilt for choice, such lovely things, so colourful, and we settled on a dish with painted salad vegetables and lots of tomatoes, the word 'Couscous ' painted across the centre, so 'Provence' to me. Even though it was bigger and heavier than we would have liked, it had to be that one!

We had a bit of a deadline, Rachel had to be back home at 1.30pm as that was when Tess was finishing, so we walked a little way to where the restaurant Rachel fancied was.  We got there just before 12 midday and there was only one table taken.... but....they were fully booked, well Rachel managed to convince them that we would be quick and they tucked us into a corner outside under the umbrellas, which suited us fine.  

This restaurant was called Le May and is in a non descriped back street, but, boy, within 10 mins of sitting down the tables began to fill up.  The food was interesting, Rachel ordered something with eggs for an entree and it was delicious (she gave me a taste), a piece of smoked salmon and two raw eggs, covered in cream and baked in the oven until just coloured, it really was the best dish of the day.  It's always a bit of an adventure ordering a meal from a menu in French, the only thing you can be sure of is that it will be perfectly cooked and tasty.  Our waitron was very French and had no time for none French speaking customers, she made us repeat how she pronounced the meal and it was a lot of fun, I reckon that's why the place is so popular, she was a bit of an 'Edith Piaff'!

We finished with only enough time to go to Zara's to make sure this one in Toulouse hadn't got a bigger size in the check coat I liked so much in Porto, no they didn't, it wasn't meant to be.  We caught the metro home for the last time and arrived back by 1.30 pm.

While Rachel was busy with Hannah I went over to the local Carrefore supermarket for the last time, by now I was a dab hand at finding things I needed and spending time looking at all the different packages and foods available, I would love to know what to do with them all!  No snails or frogs legs I might add!  I was making a curry for dinner.

The beginning of term is also the beginning of homework, and children's extra curricular activities.  Rachel picked them up from school at 4.30pm a very long day for them after being on holiday for so long, they have a long lunch hour and have school meals and they do get used to it after a while.  Homework comes after a bit of afternoon tea and a bit of tv or iPad, but it's always an effort, especially after a long day.   

That over it was time for guides and brownies.  James was away - as Rachel put it, "he got up at ridiculous o'clock " to go to Hamburg, then the next day to Chester via Manchedster, in fact we missed him by only an hour at Heathrow the next day.

Penelope is so reluctant to put on her brownie uniform, this little fashion queen describes it as "poo brown and yellow", but enjoys going, and Hannah is quite proud of her badges.  

So to get the girls to their activities Rachel has to do a couple of round trips, fitting in dinner when she can, of course the brownies is at 6 and the guides at 7, or something similar - totally inconvenient.  Not too bad when James is there to help.

We spent the rest of the evening packing, unpacking, weighing (we had been away for 68 days!).  We went to bed with everything overweight and would have another go tomorrow.

Sigh, last time to see much loved Penelope's bunny, and Jasper's crocks, he was never without them.xox xox xox

Porto - boat trip and back to Toulouse

Saturday 14 September

Porto - boat trip and back to Toulouse

Bit of a disturbed night, maybe the Grand Marnier flambé crepe was one too many courses.  At least I didn't get up to dance on the tables to the rhumba played by the Cuban Quartet!  At least I don't think so......

So after packing and leaving our bags in the hotel lobby we had another big hotel breakfast and decided to walk through the little streets again

heading down to the river and do the river cruise in one of the motor powered Gondolas.  

We got there with about 10 mins to spare, a queue soon formed and we had to clamber over the first boat tied to the wharf and over the ladder to the second boat which was tied to the first.  

The seating was just loose on the deck, about 6 rows of wooden chairs which people sat on or moved to suit.  The River Douro must always be calm!  The boat became very packed so they started filling up the first boat which wasn't leaving for another hour.  Yesterday the boats had very few customers, but being the weekend there were so many different languages on our boat and I was sitting next to a lady from New York who was talking to a lady from Holland.

We left on time and slowly made our way mid stream, unfortunately there was no literature and understandably no commentary, but in was nice being able to see the riverside from a different angle.  

 

The river looks tidal so a bit of power is needed.  We did the seven bridges cruise which took about 50 mins,

 

it was interesting to see the really ancient ruins of Porto's previous docklands,

 

(There was a cycle race up to the left of the bridge in this picture)

and some of the beaches. It was also good to see the rowing clubs competing in a race - maybe it wasn't a race, they didn't look that synchronised  so perhaps a practice run?

The tour was nearly over

 

and the boat pulled in to the south bank where we had lunch previously, so we decided to get off here,

 

And take the gondola up to the top of the bridge, the view down from the gondolas shows the roofs of the many cellars lining the waterside,

 

and in the water were many boats with one oar at the back for steering,

 

I think they were sardine boats and they competed in events. 

 

We then got the Metro to 'El Corte Ingles' the new shop we had seen on the previous bus tour.

We had been given flyers for this shop offering us 10% off everything, and for overseas visitors a further 23%VAT could be claimed.  We saw the overseas customers information desk as soon as we walked in, so they made it easy, showed my passport, filled out the forms and gave me my card.....  All I had to do now was shop till I dropped.  I didn't really want much, but it's funny how you see people walking around and you think that's the top I would like, or the skirt or the shoes, etc.  when it comes to finding them I can't decide, the shop was huge, floors and floors of mainly designer clothes, but with 33% off just one or two special pieces would be ok.  Some were already 'on special', but where do you start, I tried, just made a bit of a sweep to begin with, but ended up on the top floor queuing up for lunch to think about it.  The queue was too long and time was running away, so, determined to buy something I went down a couple of floors saw a few things I liked, tried them on and bought them.  Experience with claiming back VAT has not been good previously, but this sounded too good to miss.  It wasn't, finding the right accounts person was a challenge, having found her in the basement, we then had a long and tedious bout of form filling, then half an hour later we had our letter which we present to some customs officer in Toulouse, (which would probably take another half an hour) and we get the princely sum of €13 back.  Don't ever bother trying to get VAT back on overseas purchases it isn't worth the time!

We were running a bit short of time by the time we got back to our hotel, asked for one of the pieces of baggage with the left over crackers and cheese and went up to the 9th floor where they had a garden terrace, sat in one of their blow up loungers and had what there was for lunch, and of course finished off the port.

Time to get our bags and head off to the airport.  Had a few problems getting our tickets at the Metro, automatic "user-friendly" machines in a foreign language - needs a credit card, not sure if we will end up in the Foreign Legion with no money, fortunately 'customer service' guy comes to help, we wait 20 mins in the ticketing office, our number comes up, lovely assistant spoke English quite well, and we got a ticket to the airport.  

The trip took 40 mins, got out at the airport, and waited for EasyJet to tell us our bags were too big, too heavy, too many, fortunately we were ok and we were on the plane back to Toulouse.

We arrived back at 10.10 and James met us.  It was lovely to be back with the family again, it felt like Toulouse was our home.