Verny Park

Our first full day in Japan was spent trying to retrieve my suitcase from the airport because in my travel delusion I had grabbed a suitcase that looked very similar to mine but had very different contents.  What should have been (at least what they told us would be) a few minutes at the airport became much longer.  Elise and I spent sometime behind closed custom doors with our passports taken from us.  My sister was almost to the point of contacting 'people' worried that we were being detained.  Enough of that.

On our first day really seeing Japan, we visited the Navy base and then took a train to nearby Kamakura (I think I took the train to Kamakura about 5 times during the trip).  Just to be clear, I love Japan's train system and public transportation; the ease to get just about everywhere with a short walk and a train ride was beneficial as a tourist.  Walking from the navy base to the nearby train station took us through Verny Park.  From the park we could see the shipyard and harbor; Lexie got to terrorize the park's pigeons by chasing them everywhere.

A beautiful place to drop anchor.

The harbor is shared by US and Japanese Ships

Lexie Enjoying the fountain with her Aunt E-lise

I got lucky and caught a pigeon in action while I was getting a
shot of the fountain with the ships as a backdrop.

I liked using the ships as a backdrop for some close up shots of the flowers.

Lexie asking me to come follow her.

More ships and flowers.

I understood the sign as thus: no feeding pigeons and robins
but the hawks are okay.

Lexie had loads of fun chasing the pigeons.

One of the carriers.

Lexie wanted to smell the flower but it looks like she is kissing it.

Our first Japanese train tickets.

Waiting for the train to come out of the tunnel.

Special seats on the train were reserved for thus who needed to be seated.

A map of the JR train line, we were on the bottom middle line.

Park and Zoo

Elise and I took my sister, brother and niece to the wonder that is the Irvine Zoo (apparently it's actually the OC Zoo) this past Monday.  Here a few shots from the day.  We had to play on the park for a short time while we finished our drinks because no beverages are allowed in the zoo.

Golden Peacock - I missed this animal during our first tour of the zoo a month ago.  It is tucked away in the children's petting area which we happened not to visit.  It is a beautiful bird.

Here are a couple of pictures from the park; Alexis refused to give up her crackers and water bottle.  It was quite entertaining watching her attempt to navigate the park without hands.

And a couple from inside the zoo:
At first she refused to pet the goats (from fear of my parents dog); she was very proud of herself once she did.