Happy 2010!

From our house to yours, here's wishing you ALL a very happy, healthy, fun and fruitful 2010!

Love, Greg, Meg, Cora, Finn & Bonny

A 'lil Tour of Kyoto

Kyoto was the home to the Emperor of Japan from 794 until 1868 (and thus Japan’s capital for over 1,000 years). The shogun, the military leader who actually ran the country lived about 300 miles to the east in what is now Tokyo. Therefore, Kyoto became the city for spiritual enlightenment and is thus full of well known and gorgeous temples and shrines.

We had a wonderful Christmas visit to Kyoto, though it really didn't seem much like Christmas aside from Cora's Santa suit! We agree, hands down, that Kyoto best represents Japan with regards to scenery and ambiance.

A 3 day stay seemed perfect with ample time for touring and exploring on our own. We had organized visits to sites during the day and the evenings to ourselves. Our hotel was located in a great area of town, steps to the Ginza (covered shopping arcade) and Gion (geisha entertainment district). The weather was beautiful, sunny and upper 50s most of the time. Here's some shots and details of what we saw!

A picture of the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji. Originally built for a shogun some 700 years ago, it became a Zen temple after his death in the early 15^th century.

Greg takes a moment to contemplate the meaning of life while sitting on a stone which will allegedly give it's occupancy good luck... and gazing at the gardens of Kinkaku-ji (the Temple of the Golden Pavilion).

The Zen rock garden at Ryoanji (a temple) is the best known example in karesansui (dry landscape) in Japan. Since neither Greg nor I were able to understand the brilliance behind this national landmark (Greg said something about the Emperor’s New Clothes), we instead photographed someone who was able to appreciate it’s beauty!

Elsewhere at Ryoanji…

The famous Sangano Bamboo Grove located between Tenryuji Temple and Jojakkoji Temple - not far from Togetsukyo Bridge… OK, now I’m just name dropping!

Greg and Cora at Nijo castle that was built by the Shogun in 1603 so that he could keep a closer eye on the Emperor (the Shogun’s regular residence was in Tokyo). As grand as the sprawling complex is, once we learned that the castle is completely without heat (not even a fireplace), it was quickly decided that our relatively tiny abode in Newport was far superior!

Another view of Nijo Castle.

“Retired” temple bells at Nijo Castle adding to the beauty of the gardens.

A portion of the moat at Nijo Castle.

Cora and me at the gardens of… you guessed it… Nijo Castle!

A small portion of gargantuan complex at Heian Shrine, built in 1895 for the 1,100^th anniversary of the emperor moving to Kyoto. The buildings are a replica of the Imperial Palace, but only about to about two thirds scale of the original buildings. The groundskeepers were busy in preparations for New Years Day celebrations - apparently this is one of the most popular shrines to visit for new year's luck.

A group photo in the gardens of Heian Shrine. From foreground to background: Cora, Meghan, Janet Tuohy, Stacey Putnam, Reid (Janet’s son), Casey Tuohy, Greg, and Rick Putnam. Would you believe me when I say this picture was not as easy as it looks?

Another view in the gardens of Heian Shrine. If you are even remotely interested in the man made beauty of the natural world, Kyoto is a must!

The family in front of a rack of sake barrels at Heian Shrine. As much as the Japanese seem to want us to think that they are an extremely conservative group, the overwhelming evidence suggest something else… Honestly, sake is commonly found as a shrine offering to the gods.

The entryway to Kiyomizudera (another temple).

It might be hard to see, but on the wooden pedestal there are a pair of metal sandals (weighing around 15 lbs each) and two metal staffs (weighing about 30 and 50 lbs respectfully). If you can believe it (we certainly can’t) these are actual tools used by the “warrior monks” who once called Kiyomizudera home.

The Mizuko kuyō at Kiyomizudera, which is dedicated to children who died before birth.

Our lovely family at Kiyomizudera. Apparently the Japanese have a saying “to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu” (akin to us saying “to take the plunge”). Tradition in Old Japan held that if you jumped from the terrace (pictured in the background) and lived, a wish you had made would be granted. The practice is now illegal, but during the Edo Era (1603 to 1867) some 234 people made the 40 foot leap and about 200 of them lived. I am willing to bet that approximately 34 of the faithful jumpers wished for something other than surviving the jump!

Greg drinks from the spring that gave Kiyomizudera it’s name (Kiyomizudera means “"Pure Water Temple”). Like seemingly everything else in the Japanese culture, drinking from this spring brings good luck… and it’s supposed to have healing powers… and I’m sure it allegedly does a whole bunch of other things that we missed. Anyway, Greg and I both drank some just in case any of it is true!

An upward view of a small side temple at Chionin Temple.

the "smoking pot" before the temple -- legend has you fan the smoke from burning incense towards whatever body part is ailing and it makes you feel better.

The main building at Chionin temple. This was abustle with visitors coming to pray inside. It was about the size of a school gymnasium inside and VERY ornately decorated (see below).

We definitely got a good glut work-out this trip -- we counted over 100 steps to this temple. Add Cora's 23 lbs and it makes for a good PT!

We found some cherry blossoms still alive! Imagine how beautiful everything is when they are in full bloom... an excuse to return in April or May...

what a trooper!

Merry Christmas from Kyoto!!!

Since this is the last Christmas that Greg and I can postpone without sending our offspring to therapy, we jumped on the bus (literally), left Finn and Bonny in a Japanese boarding facility (we’re secretly hoping for bilingual dogs), and we are now in Kyoto (a city almost due west from Tokyo that was Japan’s capital city for 1,000 years… which roughly translates into, “there’s a TON of shrines here”).

We left bright and early Christmas Eve and arrived in time for dinner (it was a 10 hour trip that Cora was thankfully good for… which is to say that her charm was able to save her reputation from spouts of crying). After a quick dinner at a fantastic Japanese tapas restaurant, we wandered off to Kyoto Cathedral where the Bishop arrived for Cora’s very first Christmas Mass. With all the traditional affair (including most woman wearing kerchiefs on their head) it was almost like being at an old Latin Mass… except no one spoke Latin… in fact, they were all speaking Japanese… OK, Greg thought it was like an old Latin Mass and I thought it was like going to a mass in Japan.

In all, the locals were very welcoming and gracious (with the exception of the woman who had her missalette stolen by Cora… I don’t want to talk about it).

And today… well, today will the subject of another blog as Greg and I are starving and Cora is asleep (i.e. it’s a great time to go to a nice restaurant without her crawling all over the place) so we’re gonna head out and grab some more great food and get back in time to Skype with the grandparents.

We hope all are well back in the States, that the weather did not interfere with too many travel plans, and that everyone reading this had the best Christmas they could have imagined!!!

LANDMARK day!

Cora looked up at Greg and I this morning and said matter-of-factly "da-da" as we had our breakfast. We were stunned and of course Greg was thrilled and I was a bit jealous, but regardless we were just amazed :)

by the way, it's FREEZING officially. Rumors of expecting snow this weekend. Shampoo bottle NEARLY frozen already. Time to start drying my hair...

By the way, Happy Birthday, Duke!

getting in the spirit...

Wow, I can't believe December is already here... we have just gotten bitten by the bug and are starting to decorate for Christmas...

We are so honored and excited to be the recipients of the Syring advent calendar -- I have such fond memories as a child being able to pick a piece of candy as we counted the days til Christmas! Mom did a great job including something for everyone -- candies for Greg and I, milk bones for the dogs and Nativity finger puppets for miss Cora. Thanks so much -- we are excited to carry on this tradition!

Cora and mommy in front of the giant snow globe at the big "Enchanted Christmas" celebration at Nimitz Park across from base.

Cora and daddy and a reindeer that she didn't find very amusing! At least she didn't cry...

But she LOVED santa claus!