June 18th part two

Heading back toward the train station the notice that the school kids have stopped at a small
restaurant and we follow of rule of following the kids and go in for lunch. We start by
pointing out the dishes we want from the selection of plastic foods outside the door and then
choosing the western-style table rather than folding ourselves up the way the kids have! Ginger
and Betsy have ordered soup which comes in huge bowls. Ginger's has white noodles, chicken and egg and Betsy really does have chicken noodle soup. The lady told her so! The plastic
version looked raw to me but when it arrives it is fully cooked and has the skin on it. I've
ordered four sushi rolls with tofu, cabbage (?) and mushrooms and four triangular brown things which turn out to be rice wrapped in something that might be bean curd and they are SWEET and wonderful! We are stuffed by the time we're through and of course we can't read the bill! Inside we can at least see which dishes have a price written next to them and they are all close enough that we just split the bill three ways and call it even! Ginger gets the honor of paying the tab but we all get to giggle at ourselves and the ladies working in the restaurant are delightful.

A bit more window shopping on the way back to the train station and we are duly impressed with ourselves when we figure out the ticket machine and locate our train without any help! Back at the hostel Nick is ready to hit the road so we retrieve our luggage, say thank you once again to the kids who run the place and have been SO helpful, and head back to the station down the block.


We're on our way to Ogaki to see Andy! We start on the same train we just took, so we know what we're doing, and change to the JR line to get to Tokyo Central Station. There, we just fly down the stairs in time to catch the super-express. When Nick has asked for directions at the ticket window, the man just said 8...8...and pointed emphatically which Nick took to mean we'd better hustle! He was right! In fact he had his foot in the door as we struggled down the stairs with our luggage. Did I mention that there is a paucity of elevators in all this train-taking stuff?

Lots of up and down stairs with a suitcase and backpack (or messenger bag in my case)! When
Dale said to pack light I thought I knew what that meant! I have a whole new appreciation for
the term! Thank goodness for bags with wheels, though! At least they help on the straight
aways!