June 26th - Saturday

We're pretty much all packed, which is kind of miraculous in my case, since I have done a bit of
shopping. We all go off for breakfast but Nick isn't interested in what we are, so he goes to
Cafe du Monde for beignets and we find a little noodle shop and select a number from the choices in the window.

In this place you put your coins into a machine and push the button that corresponds to your
selection, then you go up to the counter to collect your food by putting the ticket on a tray. We also put a 100 yen coin on the tray for one of the tempura mixed-vegetable patties. They are about six inches in diameter and look scrumptious! And they are! I've ordered soba
(buckwheat) noodles with two triangles of bean curd, green onions and a dash of
wasabi. When the server puts the wasabi on the edge of my bowl I say, "Oh good!" and she laughs! The bean curd is sweet and I don't leave a scrap of food either in my bowl or on my
plate!

When we're finished devouring our food we put our trays in the window for that purpose and turn to leave; but I go back and do the "go so samma desh ta" thing again. It is such a charge to
see the proprietress laugh and tell me thank you!

We go to the Cafe to check on Nick who is working on his second order of beignets, second cup of
coffee and a crossword puzzle. We agree to meet back at the hotel. Too soon we are all packed and meet in the lobby to check out and be on our way. Down one last time into the bowels of the train station to catch the JR subway route that meets the shinkensen to speed us to Norita Airport. We are actually using elevators and I am so grateful not to be hauling everything I own up and down stairs!

At the airport we turn in the rented cell phones and use the automated check-in machine to print our boarding passes for the flight from Tokyo to Toronto and the one from Toronto to Atlanta.

Then we drop off our bags that we hope will arrive in Atlanta when we do! Nick makes me go
first because he convinced that mine will weigh the most! But when it gets to be his and
Ginger's turn, he makes her go first in case hers won't make the weight limit! We are all under
the limit and are now free to explore all the shopping opportunities!

There are a few things that we (okay - I) still need but we are finished in plenty of time to go through immigration and security and head for Gate 43. Along the way one of the duty-free shops is having a tasting of Japanese whiskey and it is really smooth! Almost as good as the iced coffee and chocolate-covered coffee beans we sampled down stairs! Nick and Ginger buy a beautiful lacquer ware tray and I FINALLY see some Poky to get for Ole! I've been searching everywhere for two weeks!

We board our winged chariot and the three ladies are all in the same row. Nick has paid extra to be in the exit row so that his long legs have enough room. For those of us of shorter stature, the regular seats seem quite spacious, especially as compared with most American airlines. Even Ginger feels comfortable.

As soon as we have leveled off we are served beverages and corn chips. Did you know that on
international flights beer and wine are included in the free-beverage category! Oh joy! Not much later our first meal arrives, a choice of chicken and pasta or seafood curry. Naturally we all go for the curry which contains shrimp and squid and is truly fine! It is accompanied by
rice, roll and butter, potato salad, tomato slice and white layer cake. We don't even think
twice about eating the cake with our chopsticks, so adept have we become! The meal comes with another of those darling little square water bottles and hot tea.

When they clear the trays we are offered another beverage and I stick with Diet Coke so that I
can, with any luck, catch up this blog! Everyone else is watching one of the gazillion movie
choices on their individual movie screens while I slave away! I'm thinking that it's time for a
movie break for me - see you guys in a few!!

Wow! There is a partial lunar eclipse and we can see it right outside our plane window! And it
begins around sunset! How beautiful!

A couple of hours have passed and we get a "snack". It is a big cup of noodles, two little one -
inch by three-inch sandwiches, three "digestives" and another drink. More movies and the lights change from blue to pink. It must be "morning"! Our poor bodies are so confused! We also receive our customs forms to fill out, as though we could focus well enough to do that!

Can you believe it? Here comes another meal! It's breakfast and there is a choice of scrambled
eggs or rice porridge. We all choose the eggs which come with two hash-brown patties, a sauce
of onions and green peppers, roll, butter, jelly and a fruit cocktail of peaches, pineapple and
a cherry. And a drink.

The attendants barely have time to collect the trash before we begin our descent into Toronto.
Bending over to tie my shoes with all that food sloshing around is a real trick! But not as big a trick as clearing immigration and customs. There have been some delayed flights and as a result there is a mob scene at immigration. The process calls for you to collect your checked bags then get in line for immigration, then the line continues on to customs. There are scared and unhappy people who fear that they will miss their connecting flights; but the officials are aware of the problems and continually pull out people whose departures are imminent and expedite
their clearance.

When it is finally my turn my customs agent asks where I've been and when I say Tokyo he is
surprised that the Japan flight is already coming through! I get the impression that he was hoping for "a break in the action"! We agree that he should be getting combat pay.


We can now return our bags to the airline's tender mercies and make our way to gate 252, at the
extreme far end of the terminal. On the plus side, we sure won't miss our plane, since we still have more than two hours to wait. We sit down at 5:20 p.m. and it won't start boarding until 7:45! Ginger calls Randy to update him on our ETA and everyone settles in for the wait with a book, magazine or crossword puzzle. We are decompressing from our Asian Adventure and easing back into the North American life style. People chat in line and make new, if temporary, friends and everyone walks on the right instead of the left.

While waiting for the Atlanta flight we try to decide what our favorite parts of the trip were and it is really hard to choose. We know that we walked at least sixty miles and that every hotel and
every restaurant was different and gave us a different view of the country and the people. One
of my favorite memories is of sitting on a city bus in Kyoto with an empty seat beside me. A group of school girls (mid to late teens?) got on the bus and no one would take the seat. I finally got one of them to sit down and through the giggles I got one of them to say that she was nineteen. I said I was too, and that have them a good laugh! Another was just about to have her birthday so she got a round of applause. It was just too much fun!

There's just one more leg to go for Ginger and Nick. They'll be home tonight. Betsy and I will
stay with them and go home to Tampa tomorrow. It is hard to believe "it's all over but the
shouting!" Arigato goziamasu, Japan, for all the memories!

p.s. When I get home, Floofen-Haagen has to inspect my suitcase. I think he is planning to stow away when I leave for Yellowstone!