Taking the Train to Hiroshima

On Tuesday, November 20, around mid-day, we checked out of the ryokan, picked up lunch at a local sushi restaurant, got some extra cash and took a cab to the train station.

We took a local train to Kyoto, then a shinkansen to Hiroshima.

Me, Alex, CJ, MJ (in stroller) and Maki in front of Ryokan Hakushikaso

MJ and Alex at the train station 

Maki holding the big box of sushi that we picked up for lunch. Note the beautiful wrapping. Japan is the land of beautiful wrapping. 

Nara is known for pressed sushi wrapped in persimmon leaves. 

Here's me holding a piece of saba (mackerel) sushi 

Alex, CJ and Christine enjoying lunch on the train. It's common for people to bring bento on the train and enjoy their food while traveling. There are even carts that come around where you can buy food, candy, water, bottled tea and coffee.

 Christine, CJ, Maki and Alex at the Kyoto train station

Sunday Night Playdate

CJ had a special treat this evening.  His friends Beckett and Peyton came over for a playdate.

CJ and Beckett are best buddies.  Beckett lives in the neighborhood and our nannies organize afternoon playdates all the time.

This evening, Seana (Beckett and Peyton's mom), Beckett and Peyton came over for dinner.  The boys played trains, Peyton played with various phones and drawing toys, while the moms chatted, made pizza and drank wine.  It's so cool that CJ and Beckett play so well together.  Seana says our house is Beckett's second home, which I love, because that's what being neighbors should be all about.

We made homemade pizza with dough from Trader Joe's.  The kids loved the pepperoni pizza, but then again, what kid doesn't like pizza?  The boys took a bubble bath in my big jacuzzi tub; pizza, bubbles and trains?  The boys were in heaven.

National Train Day

Last Saturday, May 10 was National Train Day. Since CJ LOVES trains, we headed out to Union Station to join in the celebration.

All of Union Station is a wonderland for CJ. First of all, the parking lot has a huge, glass wall that give you a view of the incoming trains - wow, endless fun to count the waiting trains and watch them come in. Next, CJ loves escalators. Since parking was tight that day, we had to park on the top, outside deck, which meant a half dozen escalator rides to the ground floor. More fun.

We got to the station around 12:30pm, which meant it was time for lunch. We headed to McDonald's and CJ proceeded to wolf down six chicken nuggets, a bag of fries and a bottle of milk. While we do indulge in takeout sausage egg McMuffins on a fairly regular basis (I'm ashamed to admit), this was perhaps CJ's second or third time actually eating inside a McDonald's. He loved it all, especially the Happy Meal toy.

Union Station was rocking for National Train Day. It felt like all Amtrak employees were out that day, staffing the events and information tables, passing out stickers, giving directions, giving away activity books. The main hall had a live band and we heard that President Bush was even scheduled for a visit (we didn't see him).

I was most interested in the train tour, so we waited in line. And waited and waited. God bless CJ, who patiently waited in live for an hour. Thankfully, it was worth the wait. We got to see the inside of:

• a Pullman car from the 1930s, beautifully restored by a local historical society. The sitting room was very elegant and we got to see inside two of the sleeper rooms.
• a regional train.
• an Acela first class train.
• an Acela business class train.
• an Acela dining car.
• a double decker MARC train.
• another Pullman car, this time from the 1940s, with its art deco observation room (you felt like you were on a cruise liner) and sleeper rooms.

CJ was fascinated by the beds and the chairs. He had to peek into every sleeper room and he has to test out the seats on every train. He would say, "let's sit here, mama" so we would sit down, look out the window, watch some people go by, then move on. He was in heaven and it was a real treat for me to see the Pullman cars.