Takayama and Shirakawa-go - our last destinations

As we mentioned, while we expected Takayama to be a whole in the ground, it's really quite charming and we really love it. On the evening that we arrived, we didn't really go out - we just went to the Family Mart to get some dinner and milk for Sophie and turned in fairly early.

On our first full day, we decided to take it easy and tour the town, a decision that we are really happy we made. We ran into a really sweet couple a few minutes after we started and they were looking for some specialty needlepoint shop that her sister had recommended. It seemed that we were going the same way, so we walked into the shop when we found it, and that was just a gem! We ended up getting a few gifts there, but it was really hard to choose, because the place was so great!

The whole town is just picturesque, at least the parts of the old town. Our hostel is really close to the old city, so it was a lot of fun and not too far away, though we ended up literally walking around the whole town!

We walked into virtually every store we saw, bought a few more souvenirs, and tasted loads of local foods (the stores had a bunch of samples of, like, everything, which was a smart decision since we ended up buying some).

We literally walked around town all day, had lunch, walked some more, saw some more cute shops, and watched Sophie play with every dog that she saw.

We turned in really  early (like 8:30 early) because we were exhausted, and we knew we had a very long day ahead of us.

This morning, our alarm clock (Sophie) only went off at 7:45 - late wake up!! But of course, it meant we got a later start than we had intended.

We walked to the old city again where the famous Takayama Festival had begun. During the day, there were tons of cute stands selling everything you could possibly think of. At 11 there was a puppet show, which they have been doing for hundreds of years, and while it was cute, it was really long, so we broke off and had a snack.

We then walked over to the river where all of the floats that would be in the parade later were displayed. It's a really good thing that we had gone to see the floats in the morning, because they were harder to see at night!

Anyway, we grabbed a bite to eat for lunch and got on a bus for Shirakawa-go, an old town about 50 minutes away whose houses are protected world heritage sites. The town is gorgeous!

But a moment about the bus ride. We took a tour(ish) because it was about $10 per person cheaper than going on the regular bus, and the bonus is we got a really awesome tour guide. He was so funny. He kept explaining what we were looking at, but he was hilarious, making jokes and just explaining everything in a really funny way. He even went by each couple/family and took pictures of them for them on the bus!

They took us to a really gorgeous lookout (that we wouldn't have been able to get to without a car), and then we parked and were left to our own devices (with a map).

A world heritage site, the houses in Shirakawa-go are built in a very special manner. Many of the houses are open to the public (at a fee), and have been converted into museums. Some of the houses were stunning! If we ever get rich and built our own home, we will definitely be borrowing some of the Japanese architectural styles.

A few minutes after we arrived, Sophie fell asleep, which was great because it was really late and she hadn't napped, and we would have all suffered if she hadn't napped. Luckily we took the back carrier so we didn't have to deal with stroller in very tight (or impossible) situations.

We reluctantly got back to the bus and went back to Takayama, but the day wasn't over yet, because the highlight of the Takayama Festival is the parade at night!

The parade was really pretty, which you can't tell by the pictures, so we didn't take too many. Sophie had a great time and waved at a lot of people. She also started saying "chien" today, which means dog. So that's her fourth word (First - this in Hebrew (and English), second - thank you (in Hebrew), third - sit! (in French)).

We left the parade before it ended, not because it was boring, but because we knew we needed to get Sophie to bed, and it was fairly repetitive at that point. Sophie fell asleep pretty quickly, so we sat down in the room with two beers to celebrate the end of our trip. I mean, they threw us a parade and everything!

Pictures from Takayama (two links, the second is from the Kyoto and Takayama album): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152728287190364.1073741838.906005363&type=3 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152725771680364.1073741837.906005363&type=3

Back to Kyoto - for 24 hours, that is

Our last day in Tokyo was laid back, we really needed some rest, and wanted to just do some shopping. We spent some time in the hotel room just goofing around, and it was a blast! We are really going to miss spending so much time with Sophie when we get home, which is the hardest part of leaving.

While traveling with a toddler is great, it is much more tiring than our last trip, even though we saw three times as much last time. We thought we hadn't stopped moving for a second, but now we see that we had - each time we had a train ride, be it 2 hours or 6 - we rested.

Even if all we did was write blog posts or read, we had quiet time. We have no quiet time now, and Sophie always needs to be in movement and entertained, so we are finding ourselves a lot more tired than we ever were last time. In retrospect, 3 weeks is enough, the last couple of days have been exhausting.

Anyway, the train to Kyoto isn't very long, about 2 hours, however when we arrived at the station to get tickets, the next 2 trains were sold out, so we had to wait an hour and a half for a train, which got us to Kyoto later than we had planned. This isn't the first time this has happened to us on this trip, and it hadn't even happened once on the last one, which just shows that there are tons more tourists now than the last time, and you must get tickets ahead of time, if possible.

Luckily for us, Sophie slept most of the way. She is so cute when she's awake, but boy is she adorable when she's asleep! We bought some bentos on the train, and they were delish! When we arrived in Kyoto, it was cold and raining, and even though we technically arrived pretty early, around 3 in the afternoon, we couldn't do anything because of the weather. This was very depressing for us because 1) After a long train ride, you want to walk, 2) Finding a way to entertain Sophie for 3 hours was going to be a problem, and 3) We only had 24 hours in Kyoto.

So we went to the only place we could go in that weather - Nishiki food market! Talia had been there last time, but Rony hadn't, anｄ the market has such interesting booths, that it was great going there a second time. We didn't take pictures this time because it was exactly the same, but you can see the pictures from our last trip to the Nishiki market starting here.

We only spent one night in Kyoto, but it was the same hostel we were in last time, and the Japanese guy who speaks Hebrew was still there! He totally remembered our friend, Maya, who came with us last time because she had recommended tons of Hebrew music to him. He talked to Sophie in Hebrew and she was just floored. It was the most comfortable bed we had on the entire trip. K's House, in case anyone was wondering.

The following morning, we tried to get up early because we wanted to make sure we get tickets early enough to avoid any problems. After grabbing a bite to eat, we took a bus to the Golden Pavilion. The bus was soooo slow,  we felt like we were back in Israel. However, the bus was very clear in what the next stops were, and whenever we passed a tourist spot, a recording came on letting us know where we are and the history of the area, which was great. Fortunately, Sophie slept for part of this ride, which was helpful because there was no way to entertain her there.

The Golden Pavilion, which Rony had visited last time (but Talia hadn't), is stunning. The area surrounding it is also gorgeous, and Sophie had a great time walking around. At this point, she already understands that if we put the shoes on, it means she will get to walk, and she gets so excited that she can't stop screaming with glee and flinging her arms!

By the time we were done, it was too late to go to the castle we had intended on going to, but we are already used to it. So, you know, next time. ;-)

We got back to the train station with enough time left to calmly get our bags, which we had left in lockers in a station, and find our train. We had a short train ride and then we switched to a longer ride (about 2.5 hours) to Takayama. This train was actually hilarious - unlike other trains, this one had some kind of a tour guide that kept telling us to look to our right and left, accompanied by countless stories about what we are looking at! It was actually really awesome, especially since Sophie was asleep the whole way.

Takayama is a small town that is basically traveled to only twice a year during the festivals, one of which takes place in a couple of days. While we originally thought it was a hole in the ground, it is actually quite charming and we are really enjoying our time here!

When we arrived, it was really cold - so cold that it started to snow an hour later. Sophie's first snow! She, of course, was unphased. We basically only went to get some milk for her and dinner for us and came back.

Pictures from Kyoto (and a few from Takayama, but the post is already really long): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152725771680364.1073741837.906005363&type=1&comment_id=39492097&offset=0&total_comments=1&notif_t=photo_album_comment

Tokyo, Kamakura, and Yokohama (again)

We're sorry it's taking us longer than before to post, traveling with a toddler is fun, but exhausting!

Our time in Tokyo was really only meant to be a base for the day trips we wanted to take outside of Tokyo. Our next stop was Kamakura, a town famous for the second-largest Buddha in Japan. We hadn't made it to Kamakura last time, so we were very happy to make it this time.

While Kamakura has a very famous festival, we missed it by a week - it starts the day before we leave. Oh, well, next time. :-) However, Kamakura is far from boring, and it was probably the place where we saw the largest amount of tourists since we had arrived (other than the penis festival, that is).

Our first stop was one of the famous shrines in Kamakura, Hase-dera, and it was gorgeous. Sophie got to use her new shoes again, though she still isn't that used to them. She loved the rocks. We go and show her beautiful gardens with wonderful flowers and plants and shrines, and she only wants to play in the rocks. :-)

Walking through Kamakura was fun to begin with, the streets lined with many cute shops and boutiques, and of course the 100 Yen shop that Talia wanted to go to was closed. Oh, well. 

Our next stop was the famous Amida Buddha statue at Kotoku-in. Apparently this Buddha had been in a structure that was destroyed by a Tsunami in the late 15th century, but the Buddha remained standing, and the building around it was never rebuilt.

Sophie had, blessedly, fallen asleep while we were visiting the great Buddha, that's why she isn't in the picture - we didn't forget about her. ;-) A really nice Australian family took the picture for us, and the daughter gave Sophie a game that they got in a Happy Meal from McDonald's (bringing our tally of McDonald's Happy Meal games to 2 out of 0 meals that we had ordered).

We chatted for a while about our travels and then went to have lunch, where something very odd was on the menu. We have yet to figure out what those are...

We have to mention the subway in Kamakura - it is a very old-fashioned train, and we loved it! It was just very quaint, and even though surely that wasn't the purpose, it was fun feeling like we were going backwards in time.

After lunch, we headed back to the train station and walked over to nearby Danzakura, which leads up to a temple, to see the sakura, but we had missed it by a few days, and while beautiful, the trees were barren. So we turned back,　after hunting for yet another lost pacifier. May it rest in peace in the mouth of a Japanese baby, amen.

The train station in Kamakura is really funny. While it's great that they have so many elevators and escalators, especially for such a small town, some of them are quite ridiculous, covering only 7 stairs!

Our final stop for the day, on the way back to Tokyo, was Yokohama again to visit the local China Town. The area was very pretty and they had a lot of interesting items on sale, however they do not know how to be a proper China Town and their prices were sky high! We did, however, buy Sophie a costume for next year, so yey!

The highlight of China Town was running into the shooting of a really weird sci-fi movie. While Talia comes from the industry, it was still tons of fun to watch, especially since it was basically a kung fu movie without any sound. :-)

Pictures from Kamakura and Yokohama: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152718156235364.1073741836.906005363&type=3

Tokyo and the Penis Festival in Kawasaki

Since we had already seen the great view of Mount Fuji, we decided to forego our original plans (another view of the mountain) due to the weather. We ended up being really lucky that we arrived so early the afternoon before - we could barely even see the mountain that morning (there was a view from the hostel). We felt bad for all the others there who weren't going to be able to see it properly - it's a very long way to come and not see Mount Fuji.

Anyway, we left around noon and had lunch at one of the train stations where we switched trains. There was this great, tiny ramen shop, exactly the type we love: You put your money in a machine, select what you want, get a ticket, and come to the counter. Within 4 minutes you have your food, and it is way healthier than any fast food we can get back home!

We arrived in Tokyo fairly early, but we were pretty beat from the long way there. Our hotel is really nice, but it just confirms our opinions that hostels are a million times better than hotels. They are just so much homier, it's great fun getting to know other people and hear about their travels, and there is loads of advice plastered all over the walls, not to mention the great staff that is really knowledgeable about the area.

Our hotel is located in a great place, just two stops from Tokyo Station (think Grand Central Station, but tons bigger and way more confusing, and not because of the Japanese). As it turns out, this area is the #1 spot in Tokyo for books, and the Klein Perez family loves books, so we just walked a bit among the shops and just had a lot of calm fun. It was raining and too late to really see anything, plus we had spent a lot of time in Tokyo on our last trip, so there wasn't anything major we still wanted to see.

The next morning, it was supposed to rain, so we split up to keep Sophie dry: Rony took her to this amazing indoor playground for kids, called Children's Palace) where she had an amazing time. Ordinarily, Talia would have given up the camera so that Rony could take pics of Sophie playing, however she went to the Penis Festival in Kawasaki, and if you don't have a pictures, it didn't happen.

You read right. The Festival of the Steel Phallus, to be precise. It's one of the last remaining fertility festivals in Japan. It's located in Kawasaki, about 25 minutes outside of Tokyo. The festival is actually a lot smaller than we expected it to be, but it was definitely worth the trip for Talia (and definitely not for Rony and Sophie).

Right when you arrive at the shrine (yeah, the festival takes place at a place of worship, which, by the way, also has a kindergarden), you are greeted by this nice guy:

 They have all kinds of stands there, selling penis whistles and bandanas with reproductive organs on them, and also carving competitions:

Best of all, tons of candy! Really expensive candy, which originally I wanted to buy for work, but it was way too expensive.

 Then the parade began, and Talia had a great spot. This was her favorite float, because it's lead by some really awesome and really creepy-looking ladies.

After the festival, Talia returned to the hotel to find Sophie and Rony trying to sleep. 15 minutes later, having given up, we all went to the Imperial Palace gardens, located fairly close to our hotel.

The palace itself is not only closed to the public, but can't be viewed, but the park itself is gorgeous, and this is a famous bridge:

We saw Israelis there, so we pretended not to understand, as usual. Someone overheard us talking, though, and she apparently spied on us, but we did not surrender any information!

Exhausted from so much activity that day, we made our way back to the hotel and decided to splurge on some nice, homemade McDonald's! As Rony and Sophie waited for Talia to arrive, Sophie received yet another gift - one of the McDonald's Happy Meals toys! Boy, have we been getting a lot of gifts!

We all fainted into bed, and the following morning, Talia took Sophie to the Children's (petting) Zoo and Rony went book shopping for himself. Or, at least, the plan was to go to the Children's Zoo, but as know on this trip, any correlation between our plans and what happens is purely coincidental.

Sophie fell asleep literally after we got off the Subway, so we sat in the park outside the zoo to let her sleep (a tired baby is an annoying baby, you can quote us on that one). Outside the zoo was a really great playground, and when Sophie woke up, her eyes shot open in so many directions so quickly that Talia thought they would seriously come out of their sockets.

As it turns out, the Children's Zoo was closed that day, but the playground itself was really fun, and Sophie was just going crazy on all the different contraptions. "This! This!" So Talia would take her there after literally three seconds, she would shriek and then point in a different direction, "This! This!" It was tons of fun, but incredibly exhausting.

After the playground, we went shopping! We went to the famous 100 Yen Store, Daiso, near Harajuku station, which is 3 floors of awesome, and then walked up and down Omotesando searching for awesome presents for our families, of which we found none. However, we did make it to Kiddie Town, a 6 (!!!) floor toy store that had an AnPanMan doll, which Sophie loves, and that alone made it worth it. She plays with it all the time! There is an entire floor dedicated to Hello Kitty and one for Snoopy, and boy, is that place incredible.

Our next and final stop that afternoon was a kids store where we bought Sophie her first pair of shoes. She's been wanting to walk a lot here, and the leather soft-sole shoes weren't cutting it anymore. We also replaced a couple items that we lost along the way. :-)

Here are the pictures from our first couple of days in Tokyo: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152718156235364.1073741836.906005363&type=1#!/media/set/?set=a.10152716081785364.1073741835.906005363&type=3

The Ramen Museum in Yokohama and Mount Fuji!

We left Osaka and our amazing hostel behind to finally see Mount Fuji! We only saw it on the train last time, and Talia didn't even get to see THAT because she had fallen asleep! Sophie spent the rest of the time flirting with everyone on the train. Of course, pictures were taken, and an older couple on one of the trains gave her cookies, as well.

Since it is a very long way (about 6 hours all together), we decided to stop halfway through in Yokohama and go to the Ramen Museum! The museum tells the history of ramen in a language we don't understand (Japanese, yo), but downstairs is where the action REALLY happens.

The bottom 2 floors are a reconstruction of Tokyo in 1958, which is when instant ramen was invented. The streets are narrow, there are games that were played on the street back then, and there are so many tiny touches there that made it so much fun. And, of course, the place is FILLED with ramen restaurants, which we ate at.

DELICIOUS.

We then took a few more trains to get to our town by Mount Fuji, and mercilessly, Sophie slept almost the entire way. SCORE!

We arrived easily at our hostel, and Talia saw a gorgeous postcard of Mount Fuji at the reception, and it turned out that the exact spot is only a 20 minute walk from our hostel!

Luckily, the girl working at the hostel told us that there are steps to go up, so Rony loaded Sophie up on the carrier and off we went. What she DIDN'T tell us is that it was a 20 minute walk to get there, but a 400-stair climb to get up after that!

It was exhausting and we seriously don't know how we made it, especially Rony with Sophie on his back, but we did, and boy, was it worth it!

Pictures from Yokohama and Mount Fuji: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152705771380364.1073741833.906005363

Osaka days 2 and 3 - The Science Museum, Universal Studios Japan, The Osaka Castle, Sakuranomyia, and Horyuji Temple

We started our second full day in Osaka at the science museum, which is such an amazing place for kids! First of all, it is free for kids up to the age of 15!

The best part is that you can touch EVERYTHING and there are a lot of activities there, so Sophie had a great time pushing buttons, turning things, and just climbing on everything. Yes, sir - we are introducing our girl to science as early as possible!

After the museum, we headed out to Universal Studios Japan! The place is really nice and the rides are tons of fun, but the kids are on their spring break, so the place was FULL and the lines were insanely long.

At one point, we searched for a place to eat at the park and found a great restaurant, smack-dab in the middle of the park, that had sound-proof windows, and it was divine. No, we are NOT old!!

Rony's soup came with STARS in it, and when the dessert came, the waitress came to Sophie with the cheesecake and drew a picture of Elmo on the plate!

After dinner, we walked around a bit more, and then we split up - Rony took Sophie back to the hostel and Talia stayed at the park until it closed at 9 so she could ride the rides she didn't have the opportunity to do before. Best. Husband. Ever.

While this post makes it seems short, we did SO much walking that day, and we were so exhausted when we got back that we couldn't even fall asleep!

The following morning, we headed out to Osaka Castle to see the Sakura. Everything is so beautiful! We took so many pictures, and it's really hard to decide which angle is best, so we just kept walking around. We then walked over to Sakuranomyia, which is another area really loaded with cherry and peach trees in full blossom, and it was just tons of fun to walk around.

Our next stop, after lunch, was about an hour outside of Osaka in a town named Horyuji, where Sophie received a pinwheel from a lady at Tourist Information. This town has the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan, dating back to at LEAST 711! We had planned about half an hour there and then we were going to proceed to Nara, but we didn't realize how huge the place was and we never actually made it to Nara (which we didn't get to really see last time either.)

As we were about to enter the temple area, a man approached us and introduced himself as a Goodwill Guide. Talia had read at our hostel that there are these guides who, for fun and for free, give tours of major tourist locations, and this was one of them. He took us around the temple grounds and gave us really interesting information that we wouldn't have known otherwise. For example, the big communications tower in Tokyo, which was being built when we were in Tokyo 2 years ago, was built in an earthquake-resistant way that was based on the pagoda at the Horyuji Temple!

Since we didn't have time to go to Nara (again!), we decided to go back to Tokyo and decide there what we wanted to do, but we were BEAT when we got in and Sophie had to practically put US to bed.

Here are our pictures from these two days: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152705721865364.1073741832.906005363&type=3

Okayama and Osaka day one: The famous Osaka aquarium, an awesome streetshow, Americamura, and Dotonbori

We left Kei's house first thing in the morning, and immediately Sophie made friends with yet another small kid who ended up giving her one of his toys as a present, a finger puppet from a famous cartoon in Japan, Anpanman.

We had a 3-hour train ride to Okayama, most of which we all spent sleeping (score!) We had been to the famous Okayama gardens on our last trip, and it was beautiful, but we knew it would be stunning this time because of the sakura, which it was.

We walked back to the train station, because we just love walking through Japan! There are very few days that we don't express (to each other) how much we love this country. We took a direct train to Osaka and located our hostel, J-Hoppers, in the Fukushima area (not where the tsunami hit, it's a neighborhood in Osaka).

The area is GORGEOUS, a narrow street with a bunch of restaurants and, apparently, this is the "hip place for young people" - or that's what was written on a local map. :-)

The hostel itself is great - the staff is awesome and the room is really big for a hostel - no small thing when you are traveling with a baby. There is even a bathtub here (score!) though Sophie keeps crying in it. The bed is comfortable, and Sophie still subscribes to the 80-20 rule: She gets 80% of the bed, and we get 20%.

She kicks us a lot at night, but we don't mind - we just turn our backs AND PRETEND IT IS A FREE THAI MASSAGE. Are you jealous yet?

By the time we got in, it was time for dinner and sleep (for Sophie), and we got ourselves some delicious food for a stupid price at the 7-Eleven 2 buildings down.

The next morning, we started our day at the Osaka aquarium since it was raining, though we had planned it anyway. Sophie LOVES animals (and, really, any nature), and the Osaka aquarium is apparently #2 in the world - and we can see why!

Even though it was drizzling, there was an AMAZING street show going on outside. While we don't generally stop to watch people juggling, this guy was HILARIOUS. We didn't understand a single word he was saying, but we couldn't stop laughing - it was like watching a dubbed samurai movie! You can watch the video here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rRbi75-0P0I.

The aquarium itself was spectacular - they built it in a way that you don't feel like you are watching fish in a tank, but in their natural habitat.

And Sophie went BALLISTIC. She wouldn't stop laughing and shrieking with joy, and even pushing other people out of the way so she could see more. About an hour or so in, she lay her head on a chair and fell asleep 2 minutes later on Rony.

We then went to have some lunch at the mall next door, and ended up at an all-you-can-eat BBQ place that was sooooooo delicious! You take any meat or veggie you'd like, dip it in tempura, and into the oil it goes! Wow, that place was awesome.

Our next stop was Americamura and Dotonbori, two areas that are great for people-watching. Talia bought some bento gear at the 100 Yen shop (like a $1 store) and we really enjoyed just looking around and seeing all the random and nifty shops all around - they even have a whole booth dedicated solely to clothes for dogs!

Here are the pics we took from these 2 days - we are clearly taking less pictures than before :-) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152703332520364.1073741831.906005363&type=3

Fukuoka and Yawatahama - We are home!

As we mentioned, we were incredibly sad to be leaving South Korea, but at least our vacation wasn't over! We arrived at the airport and were excited to discover that the Koreans just keep on being awesome until you leave!

As we walked towards the check-in counters, we passed a phone-charging station (!!!) and an airport representative informed us that we don't need to wait in line because there is a special check-in for families (!!!)

We checked in, breezed through security, and walked towards the gate where were awesomely surprised to discover a playground! As we waited, Sophie got to slide and play. Of course, this meant that she cried when we had to board the plane, but so did the rest of the kids, so whew.

We had the same great service on the plane - a trash bag, box of tissues, and a small game - and arrived quickly in Fukuoka, Japan. As in Korea, we were removed from the line and passed through customs quickly, got our luggage, and went to the hotel where we had HEATED TOILETS. We are back in Japan!!!

Since Fukuoka was just a pass-through town for us, we hadn't made any plans, but we walked over to the main shopping district - Watanabe-dori - anyway and were really surpised to see all the action. Tourist Information told us where the sakura (blooming of the cherry blossom) is, and we headed in that direction and had a delicious dinner, where we learned Sophie was just as popular in Japan as in Korea.

One really awesome thing about Fukuoka is that during the day, the sidewalks are empty, but at 6:30 pm, minivans suddenly drive up onto the sidewalk, and dozens of Yatai - mini-restaurants - pop up! They mostly serve yakitori - food on a stick - and they have 2 benches or about 8 chairs for guests to eat.

After a good night's sleep (hahahaha, who are we kidding, we haven't slept in 13 months), we headed over to Beppu, where we did nothing, and boarded a ferry to visit our friend, Kei, from our last trip to Japan.

The ferry ride was fairly uneventful, though lots of fun. Sophie made new friends, as usual, who played with her, and we bought bento for lunch! She definitely wore Rony out by running up and down the stairs ( well, up, Rony had to take her down), and expressed an intense desire for 2 men's beers.

Kei picked us up from the ferry (which was awesome) and took us to see the sakura at a park nearby. The Sakura is the best time of the year to visit Japan, and we missed it by a few weeks last time. This time we came JUST in time! It is only a few weeks long and started early this year, so we are very lucky.

Traditionally, families have picnics under the trees, and older people congregate and just have beer (apparently you are supposed to get drunk). Apparently we were quite the spectacle - not only do we have a kawaii (cute) baby, but this town NEVER sees non-Japanese people, somwe were offered beers (Sophie REALLY wanted one) and snacks, and we sat there for a while since it was really nice outside.

We arrived at Kei's apartment where Sophie was greeted by her pug, Anzu, and it was love at first sight - for both! Anzu had never seen a baby before and quickly became her watchdog, which is hilarious considering she's even smaller than Sophie!

Kei organized a really nice do-it-yourself sushi bar for us for dinner and had invited some friends, a few of whom we had met last time, so it was really like coming home for us to a place we knew and people we had met.

The visit was entirely too short. Kei worked most of the next day, and we took it easy - did some shopping, walked around, and ate, and Talia bought some bento supplies for 100 Yen each (about $1), so she is very happy.

The following morning, we left Yawataham early to make our way to Osaka, where we will be spending the next few days. Kei was awesome and brought us a bag of goodies for thelong train ride ahead, including an Anpanman toy for Sophie, which she really loves playing with. She remembered that Talia likes sparkling water and that Rony loves the Meiji chocolate-covered chocolates, and made sure both were in the package.

Sophie updates:

1) She hates sticky rice. This is the first food we have seen her consistantly spit out.
2) she learned how to drink from a straw. It works 3 out of 4 times. Good statistics, but the 4th time is brutal and the drinks ends up everywhere.
3) She has gotten used to the attention, so when she doesn't have groups of people around her, she gets angry and starts acting cute ON PURPOSE, hoping for a reaction from the crowd (it usually works).
4) She drinks real milk now, not formula. We keep it to a bottle in the morning and a bottle in the evening.

Sorry we take a while to update - on the last trip, we would write on the trains,,and that isn't an option right now. :-)

Pics from Fukuoka and Yawatahama: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152695105270364.1073741828.906005363&type=3

Korea - day 4, final day: Gyeongbokgung Palace, the Kimchi Museum, andsome shopping

Today was our final day in Korea - tomorrow we fly to Japan. Today, for a change, went FAIRLY according to plan. Our first stop was the Kimchi Museum at the COEX mall, the largest underground mall in Korea. And OMIGOODNESS it is huge. It's a miracle we didn't get lost.

Kimchi is a national food in Korea that is served at every restaurant with every meal you have, other than maybe McDonald's. It's fermented cabbage, turnip, or a handful of other vegetables, and it is delicious, but spicy - sometimes too spicy (but yey for our sinuses!)

While we thought it would just be fun, it ended up being really interesting - we even got to sample some kinds of kimchi that we hadn't had yet, and come on, who DOESN'T love spicy chili vegetables at 10 in the morning?

As we made our way out, we saw a bunch of young women dressed in neon blue and OMIGOODNESS we stumbled into a Samsung conference where the were displaying all of their phones and FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, Talia needs a Samsung Note 2 for her birthday. You have 5 months to raise the funds.

After about 20 minutes, Rony managed to pull Talia out of there, though he couldn't get her to shut up for half an hour, BUT HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS GETTING HIMSELF INTO WHEN HE MARRIED HER, so really, he can't complain.

But we digress. Regretfully, we left this really awesome mall because we had palaces to see, souveniers to buy...

We had read online that Gyeongbokgung Palace should take about an hour, and it was gorgeous. Like the other palaces, it has a very rich history that can be summed up in one sentence: Built 600-700 years ago, the king held his meetings here, and then the Japanese burnt it down. This particular palace, while stunning, is a complete reconstruction from about a decade ago. Our closets are older.

Even though it was supposed to take about an hour, after almost 2 hours we left before we even saw everything because we almost ate dirt. We had lunch at the palace restaurant because we were incapable of walking farther, and we have to say, each place we ate here has been incredibly delicious!

Our next stop was Insa-dong, again, because it is a great place to buy souveniers and we wanted to get some more lf that awesome candy we got the last time for our families.

We headed back to the hotel for our last night in South Korea, not before taking our picture at the (Hoppa) Gangnam (Style) station, because, dude, they check your pictures at the airport (not really).

As Rony put Sophie to sleep, Talia ran out to the Lotto Mart nearby to buy the really awesome rain and wind stroller cover that all the babies here have. We hadn't seen many babies at ALL, but every single one of them had this cover and it is not only gorgeous, but very functional - it goes all around the stroller, so Sophie can't pulll it off AND THAT IT PRICELESS. Plus, you can open the front flap to take her out and put her in without having to remove it, and she can see through it perfectly and STOP JUDGING US, THIS IS OUR LIFE NOW. The best part is that she LOVES it - she feels like she has her own space and sometimes tries to close it herself when the flap is open.

OK, enough with the excitement about stroller covers, this is the longest paragraph we have written to date!

We were very sad to leave Korea. It's beautiful, the people are amazingly nice (very similar to the Japanese), and we didn't get to see a quarter of what we wanted. We will DEFINITELY be back. On the upside, Sophie won't complain that she only got to go to Korea when she was too small to remember!

At the Seoul subway stations, we had the distinct pleasure of learning how things should be done:

1) If you miss the elevator, you will fall into a sea of water.

2) If there is blood on the floor, find children to clean it up.

3) If you are a mother, do not climb under the rail to skip paying or your daughter will cry with embarrassment.

4) If there is an old lady in the vicinity, help her to her seat by humping her.

5) If a woman is about to give birth - deliver her baby.

We finally uploaded our pictures from Korea - you can see them here.

Korea day 3 - Korean Folk Village and Garosugil (tree-lined street)

We had yet another difficult night, where Sophie only fell asleep at 1:30 am ("Look! Mama, Dada, I am walking without holding anything!"), we woke up at 7:30 (used an actual alarm clock, thankyouverymuch) and headed out to Suwon where, again, our plans changed AND WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY GO TO SUWON.

Suwon is a town outside of Seoul that has a really nice (so we hear) fortress. The town nearby has the Korean Folk Village, an incredible reproduction of Korean life a gazillion years ago. Having read ahead of time that transportation is more limited to the folk village, we decided to start there.

We read that the subway takes an hour and 45 minutes to arrive, but the bus takes 40 minutes, so we braved the local bus system to save time, an excellent decision in retrospect. We got great directions and instructions from Trip Advisor, and when we located the bus stop, a local man who works there MADE US TAKE A PICTURE OF THE BUS ROUTE so we could tell the driver when we need to get off. Seriously, he wouldn't stop rambling in Korean until we took a picture with our cell phone of that AND another bus route that we weren't even interested in.

Because we had a baby in tow, we sat in the front seat, and once we passed through the small town after the freeway (thank you, Trip Advisor), we told the driver the name of the place in Korean and he told us when to get off.

We KNEW having a baby was a good idea!

What we didn't expect, however, was this incredible love for babies that everyone here has, from teenagers to the elderly. Everywhere we went, everyone who saw Sophie just melted and had to touch her. Luckily for them, Sophie loves the attention. She has been getting so much attention that we will probably have problems when we get back. She'll be all WHERE MY PEEPS BE AT? Good thing she doesn't have a sibling on the way or she'd be all, I'M OUTTA HERE.

We entered the village and were literally trampled by a group of teen girls. Not by accident - they saw Sophie and gushed. They took pictures of her, they took pictures WITH HER, and helped Rony reach 2 important conclusions:

1) We can ask any random stranger on the subway to babysit and have a night to ourselves.
2) Sophie can shoot a commercial in Korea and have her college tuition paid for. Or her braces, y'all have seen her teeth.

Once the group of girls left, ANOTHER group of teens came (boys included) and OMIGOODNESS we've been here for half an hour and we STILL HAVEN'T MOVED. But it was fun, and Sophie put on a show for them, giggling, walking, and stealing their phones, and we are on vacation with a baby, so we can't expect the same trip we had last time, and we knew it from the get go.

We LOVED the folk village. They invested a lot of effort into making it an incredible experience of any age, right down to the tiny details.

Things we learned at the village that we have been doing wrong our entire lives:

1) Sleeping early on New Year's Eve makes your eye rows white, so stay up.
2) When pregnant, dreams of a long eggplant, pepper, and sun mean you are expecting a boy; A short eggplant, green pepper, and moon mean you are expecting a girl.
3) Neighbors should peep in the bridal room on the first night of marriage.

Also, here is a list of jobs we will never have:

1) Tight-rope walker

We had such an awesome time, and, after 2 really cold days, we spent the day without our coats on, and it was splendid. Sophie fell asleep ON SCHEDULE in the early afternoon so we didn't leave to give her more time to nap, and ended up not making it to the fortress because we wanted to try to get her back on a normal sleeping schedule so that, you know, we don't accidentally leave her in Korea cause we are so exhausted.

Having changed our plans AGAIN, we decided to go to Garosugil, the tree-lined street close to our hotel. It is, indeed, lined with trees, however those trees are barren at the end of March, but not all was lost because:

1) We let Sophie walk a LOT, in hopes that she would tire enough to sleep at a normal hour (mission accomplished, she fell asleep around 7:30)
2) We had the most delicious waffle ever created - a walnut waffle topped with caramel and honey-roasted nuts.

Best. Dinner. Ever.

We hope to have pictures up for you soon, but we probably won't until we reach Japan. Talk to you soon!

Seoul day 2 - Changdeokgung Palace and the Secret Garden in Japanese + Namdaemun Market

Before we continue, we are really sorry there are no pictures yet. This literally affects the quality if our posts.

Anyway, after another difficult night (up from 1-3:30 am), we finally got up and, as seems to be a recurring theme, changed our plans.

We started at Changdeokgung Palace and the accompanying Secret Garden. Since Talia is and overachiever, we already knew that the Secret Garden is only accessibly by guided tour, but we missed the first tour early in the morning and the next was only at 3:30 pm.

We were THIS CLOSE to just skipping the Secret Garden and going to the palace alone when we suddenly realized there was a Japanese tour about to start in an hour (an hour that it would take us to tour the palace anyway) so we got tickets to the Japanese tour. We knew everyone woukd say kawaii (cute) to Sophie anyway, so we understood what was important!

This ended up being a great decision because the Secret Garden is GORGEOUS. We know it's probably stunning when the flowers are already in full bloom, but we loved it anyway. But, boy, were those a tiring 3+ hours!

We had read that there are sections inaccessible to strollers in the garden, so we took our baby carrier instead and made our way to the palace.

And then our backs broke by the time we reached the palace, so we took one of the free strollers (yes!) they had there (as they have at every tourist attraction). In retrospect, this was a wise decision - our own stroller's wheels probably would have gotten ruined anyway, and we were able to access everything but the final stop with the stroller (though we had to lift it up a couple of stairs a few times).

Our next stop was for lunch where we discovered Sophie definitely loves dumplings! Though she's definitely becoming harder to keep up with now that she challenges everything that breathes (and, you know, that doesn't).

After lunch (at 3:30 pm), we returned to our hotel in Gangnam (Style) so we could take a nap because you know what they say, a family that naps together, .

In the evening, we went to Namdaemun Market, which was nice, but not unlike Shuk Hacarmel (the market in Tel Aviv) in Korean. Other than the REALLY weird seafood stuff on a stick (we took pictures).

Our night ended in the morning, after another difficult night where Sophie thought 1 am is an EXCELLENT time to walk around the room unassisted. She'll probably say a new word tomorrow night.

Cute in Korean, maybe.

Welcome to Korea - even before you arrive!

Sophie: I'm in my pajamas, and it's dark outside, BUT I'M NOT IN BED!

Well, we are pretty sure that's what she was thinking as we walked around the airport. As we got on the plane, we were greeted by an adorable flight attendant who brought us a plastic bag and a box of tissues, "for the baby." Right after take off, we got a really cute bag with stuff in it, including a mini etch-a-scetch-type game that Sophie was totally into.

Sophie, of course, flirted with everyone on the plane, and received 3 offers of adoption from Japan and one from the Philippines.

The flight was a perfect preview to what we would learn when we arrived:

1) The Koreans are adorable and very similar to the Japanese in their desire to make everyone feel welcome.
2) The Koreans LOVE babies (and there don't seem to be many).

The airport deserves its own post, but suffice it to say that it has a movie theatre and an ICE SKATING RINK. For real.

7-Eleven, Dunkin' Donuts, and Baskin Robbins... We are definitely back in Asia!

We easily found our hotel, which is located in the middle of Gangnam (Style). The guy at the lobby showed us a fridge in the entrance full of water bottles, ice coffee, and some drink with picture of corn on it that we have yet to find the courage to sample, and said it is free. There are also warm drinks (not in cans), bananas, and snacks.

Our room is really nice, the bed is wide (though it doesn't feel like it when you sleep with a possesive one year old). It has a ginormous TV and a computer and a fridge, and looks like a zimmer (sorry, non-Hebrew speakers).

It's entirely possible that it is because this hotel was, and kinda may still be, a love motel. At least it sounded like it last night when we heard interesting noises coming from the room next door, but we showed THEM, we had a noisy baby from midnight to 3 am SO THERE.

Other than dinner at a really delicious Vietnamese restaurant (ha), we didn't really do anything last night. We had a lot of plans for today, but you know what they say, jetlag is what happens when you're making plans.

So we reogranized, and it was actually really great. We started at Insa-Dong, a long street with many different stores, galleries, booths, and restaurants. There is one where they make a traditional Korean candy and it's amazing to watch how it's done - they really put on a show! We recorded it on video, so we will upload it once we can.

They sell everything there from furniture and modern art, to candy and Gangnam Style socks (for real, we have a picture). We ate at a great restaurant there and proceeded to Jongmoyo Shrine. They are celebrating 100 years this year, so the place, other than gorgeous, is decorated with a LOT of lotuses.

From there we went to see the changing of the guard at Deoksugung Palace, which didn't happen because the palace is closed on Mondays and, as it turns out, today is Monday, but all was not lost because the palace is right by City Hall, which is really special. The new building was built as green as possible, and when you walk in you just feel peaceful. There is greenage EVERYWHERE, so many different types of plants going all thebway up to the ceiling. And, of course, like many places in Seoul, a free computer station (these are also found at subway stations).

Apropos subway stations, when we were at Seoulleung station, we had the opportunity tonsee the first virtual supermarket! You can walk up to one of many stands throughout the subway (including the gate that opens to get on the train!) and scan barcodes of whatever you want to order, and it is automatically delivered to you! Better than shopping online!

Everyone on the subway is completely enchanted with Sophie. I don't think there is a person above 70 who didn't pet her, and people of literally all ages (especially teens!) kept coming to her. Seeing as she's a performer, this must have been her favorite part of the trip so far.

We decided to take it easy this evening and not go out at night so we coukd try to get over our jetlag and have energy for the long day ahead tomorrow. We promise to post pictures as soon as we can.

Happy Passover, everyone!

Backpacking with a BABY?!

Who said children cramp your style?

Lots has happened in the two years since we last posted. We got married. We had a baby. And we decided that we have to go back to Asia!

In 5 days, the three of us, baby in tow, will be embarking on a 3.5-week trip to South Korea and Japan. Obviously, this trip will be different - after all, we now have a one year old daughter. Luckily for us, she is an awesome traveler (or at least was when we went to Paris a few months ago), so we can't wait to start this trip on Saturday.

We will still be backpacking - it's so much more comfortable than lugging around suitcases - plus makes public transportation with a baby so much easier.

We have made a few adjustments, though. Instead of moving from city to city every couple of days, we will have a few anchor cities where we stay for 3-7 nights and we will be taking day trips to places we didn't get to last time.

So while we will technically be in Tokyo for a week, we will actually be spending one day in the city at most. Same goes for Osaka.

This blog is being revived so you can stay up to date with our travels and know we're safe (we're talking to you, family!)

On Friday, we took a practice run with the baby carrier, just to make sure we didn't have any surprises ahead:

 Success! Her curiosity was peaked. We're going to have fun!

For some reason, it seems Baby Sophie was ashamed to be seen in public with us? We hope this doesn't happen in Korea and Japan!

Talk you Saturday (or Sunday!)