Yokohama

It's amazing that we live within 45 miles of two of the largest cities in Japan--Yokohama and Tokyo. I never realized how big Yokohama was when I was younger but it is quite a spectacular city. Mike and I just love big cities and so we decided to visit Yokohama with the kids today. From Oppama station we rode 1 stop and then got off at Kanazawa Hakkei to get the express train to Yokohama. It only took us about 30 minutes to get to Yokohama and that included the 12 minute walk from our house to the train station. From the station at Yokohama we got on the subway and went 2 stops to Minatomirai which took us right into one of the tallest buildings in Yokohama. Right next door to that building is the tallest building in Japan. Between these two tall towers we found lots of shopping, good entertainment and lots of yummy food. We ventured into the Disney Store, the Pokeman store, GAP, Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, and LL Bean. We even got some Krispy Kreme donuts and ate them outside all while enjoying the entertainers doing crazy stunts and tricks. The kids througouly enjoyed that even though they couldn't understand what the entertainers were saying. It was such a gorgeous day so we decided to head across the street to the amusement park situated right along the water. The boys and I rode on the log ride and the girls got to ride on the double decker carousel with Mike. I loved watching the boys as we flew down the last hill on the ride. Both of their eyes were wide with excitement. I am a lover of amusement park rides and I can see that these two will follow in my footsteps in this regard. Unfortunately the roller coaster ride was having problems and was closed so we weren't able to ride that one today. As beautiful as the ferris wheel was we opted not to spend time riding on that but we did enjoy watching the ferris wheel light up in different colors as the sun started setting. Our tummies were getting hungry so we headed back to the shopping area and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It was nice be somewhere that was so familiar. It was a little piece of America right in one of the largest cities in Japan. After a pretty fabulous dinner we walked along the boardwalk and admired all of the lights from the city. We will definitely be returning here often. I guess you could call us city folk. We love the lights and sounds and all of the newness of the city. It is a fun place to be every once in a while.