Japan and a Windy trip around the British Isles.

[mrs.dr.ron]

Thx I’m aware of the various alternatives, just wanted to know which method the drRons used

I think the T bus is the easiest way when scheleping bags to Rydges, plus the trains were not working Sunday and were replaced by buses

 

[Quickstatus]

Unfortunately mrsdrron was on Sunshine Coast time and awoke a little after 0300.

Or alternatively on F “lounge time”

 

[drron]

Can't answer the drapes question as there was darkness outside the whole time we were in the room but the heavier drape looked like it would do the job.
Ceratainly a lot of noise from aircraft movements but neither of us had difficulty getting to sleep.

 

[drron]

JL712. SIN-NRT. ETD-0810. ETA-1620. 772. Seats 3D,G
PB-0810. TO-0821. Landed-1528. AG-1537.
A refurbished regional 772.
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The menus.
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Mrsdrron had the petit SB whilst I still could not get JohnM out of my head so had the Argy malbec.It was really very good.

 

[Quickstatus]

What did you think of the seat @drron?
The arm rests are a problem
I did not like that ledge for a left arm rest. And the right side was too low. And the seatbelt rubbed into my neck.

Did the seatbelt come bulky with an airbag?

 

[drron]

It wasn't too bad.A bit narrow for me.
Yes the seat belt came with an air bag but was no where near my neck.
I usually don't use armrests so that wasn't a problem.

 

[amaroo]

It was nice to catch up in the lounge - safe travels.

 

[drron]

Now to the food.Mrsdrron chose the western meal.She had the chicken.
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I had the Japanese selection.
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It was very nice.
After the meal I didn't feel like watching a movie so lay down for a bit of shut eye.Then listened to the Rolling Stones,the Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic and finally the Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack.Next watched a couple of Japanese travel documentaries and finally an old fashioned Canadian comedy shows.Basically the same format as Hidden Camera all those many years ago.
Came into probably the furthest gate from Immigration at the satellite terminal and the walk to the main terminal.Once again timed it right as no one in front of us at Immigration.Bags out quickly and ours in the first few.Unfortunately missed the CP shuttle by 3 minutes so a 27 minute wait.

 

[drron]

Again no one in line at check in at the CP.Love this $200 plat status.booked king bed airside room and up graded to a large family room/suite with 2 Queen beds.
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And the view.
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[drron]

Plane spotting from the CP NRT.
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We ate at the hotel as we didn't feel like a large dinner.Mrsdrron had a margherita pizza and I had a waygu burger washed down by one of these.mrsdrron had a glass of SB both complimentary with our drink coupons.
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So we enjoyed our stay at the CP.Slept well.Even better by stopping at 2 CPs I get a bonus of 12600 points with my latest offers.
Must say in 30 plus stays at the Hilton NRT quite a few as diamond and the rest gold we were never treated as well as this.On top of that when booking I did look at the Hilton and it was slightly dearer.

 

[drron]

The next morning I got the 0750 shuttle to the airport and checked in with Toyota rent a car.Surprised the fellow as I had no luggage.Took a little while to do all the paper work which the Japanese love.He rang and held the 0826 shuttle to the depot.I was on board at 0828-the only pax.
Car was ready when I got there with a lady to show me everything.Great English and set up the GPS and ETC card for me.Soon back to the CP to pick up mrsdrron.We left our 2 large cases at the CP.

So off we went on our second driving adventure in Japan.It really isn't hard but an English language GPS is a necessity even though it does send you on a few interesting trips through the back streets.We got on to route 51 at Kashima and made our first stop at Kashimanada Seaside Park.A large Childrens park but we went right to the seaside.Obviously popular in summer but nothing open yet.A few dilapidated restaurants and lots of vacant building sites-I presume because of the 2011 tsunami.So a few pics.
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A nasty rip obvious.
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A pathway right along the beach.
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But the Japanese reputation for cleanliness takes a beating here.
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The few people here are mostly fishing.
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[drron]

We found a tsunami warning sign.
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And this funny little park.
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Tsunami protection.
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And another path parallel to the beach.This was being used by quite a few walking their dogs.
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[drron]

Then it was off to Kairaku-en.It is listed as one of the 3 Grand gardens of Japan.We have visited the other 2 so as we were in the neighbourhood this was on our list.The GPS deposited us just before the main parking lot for the garden but absolutely no English signage so we continued down along the lake shore and parked about a Km away.Then walked back to a restaurant at the main parking lot.A lovely walk in the sun.
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The last pic shows our destination.But another good thing about our walk was we were able to see this beautiful lady right beside the pathway.
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There were also a lot of large carp in the lake.Only an occasional coloured Koi though.
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They were obviously used to being fed coming right up to you with mouths wide open.
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[drron]

You pass an old steam engine and at the car park a statue of Tokugawa Mitsukuni.He was the grandson of the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
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We then had lunch at the modern looking cafe.
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Mrsdrron was not pleased as she ordered a ham and salad croissant.The ham turned out to be raw pork and it was smothered in a hot mustard.My roast beef bowl was OK.
Mrsdrron was even more displeased when to access Kairakuen it was a walk up an incline-mrsdrron hates walking up hill since breaking both her ankles.It was though for me a pleasant walk.
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Kairaku-en is a modern garden being started in 1841.It's founder was Tokugawa Naraiaki.Unusually this garden has always been open to the public without any admission fee.The name can be translated as park that can be enjoyed together.
That is next.

 

[love_the_life]

The ham in mrs.dr.ron’s croissant looks very like Serrano or prosciutto. It’s not an English style ham.

 

[drron]

Certainly didn't taste like Serrano or prosciutto.
But back to Kairaku-en.
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The wisteria is said to be 200 years old though the garden has only reached the age of 178.
Two pines planted by an Emperor.1 in the 1890s and 1 in 1974.
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Most of the garden is a forest spreading over a hillside.great for exercise but not really sightseeing.
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[love_the_life]

Certainly didn't taste like Serrano or prosciutto.
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Wonder what it was then. Something Japanese maybe?
Unfortunate for mrs.dr.ron.

 

[drron]

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[love_the_life]

Azaleas?

 

[drron]

The last of kairaku-en.
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For us disappointing.It certainly isn't in the same league as the other 2 grand gardens.Very few of the classic features of Japanese gardens.It is however famous for it's plum blossoms and those have finished mid March.
However at the same level is the Tokiwa Jinja shrine.
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