Events

Wowzers..what an adventure today to make it to Wimbledon, one of the major tennis tournaments (part of the Grand Slam) at the All England Lawn and Tennis club. Personally, i'm not a big fan of tennis but I am a sports fan so while we were here, we just had to go check it out...

• Center Court tickets are actually sold the year before in a random ballot and on the day of the matches, there are limited tickets left for people to buy. Approx 500 Center court tickets and 6000 gorunds passes are available but to get the center court ones, people camp overnight. We were not doing that. So we went for the grounds passes but still, it was advised to go early to queue up for them....and then...

• We left our place at 6:00 AM (yes read that right) and caught the train to Wimbledon and finally got in the queue close to 7:45. Let me tell you, the amount of people already there was unreal!!! By the time we got our queue ticket (which you need to prove your place in line), we were already #6437!! We waited outside, luckily it was nice out, for just over 3.5 hours and finally got into the place 10 minutes before the 1st match started!!

• While we were walking on the grounds, a guy accidentally bumped into Lisa. I kept on looking at him since he looked familiar and then when I saw people runnning to get his autograph, I realized it was Rafael Nadal, the current #2 player in the world!! he was just going into the Center Court building but i managed to run in front of him and get a quick snap (see below)

• Extremely expensive there - but had to get the traditional Wimbledon fare - champagne, Pimm's, strawberries and cream..mmmmmmm.

• Watched a few matches (no real big names) of junior girls on the outer courts and one men's match at the end on court 18 (A. Clement i believe was the dude who won it). The junior girls were all pretty tall and lean but i think i could've played with them...lol right.

• Very cool experience but if you can, you must try and get Center Court tickets to get the full experience!

• Ascot - Drove into the town of Ascot where a big horse racetrack, Ascot Racecourse, and a huger race Royal Ascot, was being held that weekend. Let's just say, everyone was dressed up - ladies in their fancy, elegant hats and men in their suits with or without tails, windsor ties (of course) and walking, or should i say staggering around town. As we drove the main thoroughfare, all of these nicely dressed people were staggering about, queueing up at a few pubs, ladies removing their shoes, and it was about 9pm only! haha, i guess beyond the nice wear and classiness, even the rich like to get drunk and booze it up.....all in the streets.
  
  
• Belvedere Arms - met up with our friend Lucy, who was coincidentally in town for training. Yep, travelled from Canada to Frimley for her specialized training! Found a place, called the Belvedere Arms which was in Ascot and in Sunninghill on the edge of Windsor Great Park, near to Blacknest Gate, and just a short drive from Wentworth Golf Club and Guards Polo Club (got that from the official website).

• Caught up with Lucy and surprised she made the drive from Heathrow to Frimley every morning (approx 20-30 mins) and as usual, first time driving on the wrong side of the road. She wants to move here and work and i think the experience of checking out the non-city-like environment of England and scenery of where we were might have made her closer to sealing the deal..lol. I wouldn't blame her, so 'cmon Jeff! Get that transfer to the UK from your work!'. Also our waiter was a chap from South Africa who gave up his teaching job to do a 5-yr plan of touring around the world. Each year is a different continent ...unreal eh?

• Arrived at Wilton House (after getting turned away from Stonehenge due to the aftermath of the summer solstice celebration - good one, we had no idea) which is the home of the Earl of Pembroke for the past 400 years. It was cloudy and slightly raining on and off and we were the only ones walking the grounds. Let me just say, being royalty, definitely has it's perks. I mean, here was a castle-like home built on acres on land with finely cut grass, huge oak (i assume) trees with a rose garden, water garden and beautiful Palladian bridge which we weren't allowed to cross. How much space does this guy really need? Unfortunately the state rooms were also closed but just wandering around the grounds and imagining what it would be like to live in this country home was incredible.

• Salisbury - this town contains England's tallest spire atop Salisbury Cathedral. We walked through a town that still had it's medieval setting and architecture and this made it seem like we were walking through history....well certain parts of it. The North gate led into the Close (again, largest in England), which was an area that contained the Salibury cathedral and a number of preserved medieval houses. The houses all faced the cathedral which was situated in the middle and a huge area of turf sat between them...very, very cool for people to take a seat and chill on the 'lawn'. Unfortunately most places were closed for us to actually go in and the cathedral had a service going on, so it was more 'window shopping'.

So we've finally arrived in England, I came 2 weeks after Michelle, but so far it's been great and we're still feeling the place out and orienting ourselves with the geography/location. A few notes from the first little bit:

• Went driving on my second day here; 'learning' to drive on the left hand side and entering/exiting roundabouts are not that bad, the toughest part so far is getting used to the space on the left side of the car. Especially when you're driving on narrow one-lane streets with cars parked on the side, and cars oncoming, everything seems so tight and a) you'll knock off the side-view mirror of the car parked on the left or b) you'll go head-on with an oncoming car. Other than that, it's been fine.

• Second day here, hit Pine Ridge Golf Center with some of Michelle's co-workers. Late tee-off time so we managed to get in 13-14 holes. Nice course, wide fairways, well-kept but greens were still being aerated. Booked myself for Chobham golf course next week, 20 GBP, 2pm special!

• Cooked adobo for the first time and it was actually really good!

• Getting our broadband internet + TV hooked up next week so researching on things to do will be a lot easier. Currently using a Vodafone broadband USB mobile key and it is sloooow. This weekend might be a weekend to Stonehenge and/or Windsor Palace and/or the Cotswolds. Stat tuned!

• Harajuku - spent the day in Harajuku and i could have stayed the whole day just in Yoyogi park. It had a street lined with hopeful bands that played throughout the day (rock mostly) and people were just watching, clapping and buying CDs as they saw fit. The inside of the park was also filled with other groups of people that were practicing their dance routines, salsa routines, juggling, etc.. and other people were just having a picnic on a nice day in the park.

• Went to the infamous bridge where goth/lolita-type people stand around and surprisingly, actually welcome people asking them to take pics with them. It's considered a compliment to to be asked to get a pic taken of (according to our friend Jay,see below). Took a pic with a couple girls giving free hugs (yep i got two) and two goth-type girls. There weren't very many cosplay-type teens on the bridge but something definitely worth seeing on a Sunday afternoon!

• Met up with an old-school friend (went back to P.A.C.E. since grade 4), Jay, in Harajuku and couldn't have asked for better company to hang with and spend the day in Harajuku with! Met up with him in Yoyogi park, right by the Rockabilliy boys (another Harajuku sight/tradition). He's been teaching english for 8 non-consecutive years and is enjoying every minute of it there.

• Jay gracously took us around Harajuku/Omotesando (high-end Yorkville-type place) /Takeshita-Dori (small, narrow street a la Kensington market). Spent a lot of time catching up (we went to P.A.C.E. together since Gr 4 (the real old school P.A.C.E.rs eh Jay? lol) until end of High School and havent seen each other since (10+ years..). Jay also explained a few Japan-isms that we had questions to and even managed to write 'Sandico' in proper Japanese text/symbols! Like we said Jay, if you're ever in UK anytime soon or back in T.O., give us a call!!

• May Grand Sumo Tournament - went with a half-day tour to watch a sumo tourney - we were lucky in the sense that there was a real sumo tourney going on at the time and it was day 9 of 15. A very Japanese experience and the crowd really got into to it when the bigger wrestlers were up. As usual, they save the yokozunas and ozeki (2nd-highest ranking) wrestlers bouts' towards the end of the day but the rituals and pre-fight routines and the actual match were off the hook!! There are currently 2 yokozunas, each with their own personalities, and when one of them got pissed, Ashawaroyu (or something like that, the other yokozuna was Hakoucho or something), he starts slapping his belt and body angrily, and the crowd goes wild! Seriously, these 'fat' guys are like huge mounds of muscle and it is very surprising to see their quickness, agility and all the humour/hype surrounding each bout. Another definite must-see in Japan if you get the chance!

• Went back to Shibuya 109, the place we've been told by a few locals, is THE place to go to see the latest trends and to see the hottest of the hott! Siick.

• Common trend #1 - short short shorts with thigh-high black stockings and heels

• Common trend #2 - country-style-quilt-pattern short dresses with cowboy boots

• Common trend #3 - 80's is back! Fluorescent-pastel coloured jeans with shirts with big glittery writing

• Common trned #4,5,6,etc... - you just have to go youself and see it. wow. Really the best place for fashion.

Back to the T-Dot in the morning...

Finally back in Tokyo for the last few days before (unfortunately) heading back home..

• Shinjuku - huge station again and there are a ton of department stores right around the station. Of course there is 1 or 2 men's levels and 3 or 4 women's levels. The outside is like a big financial/business district and lots of good architected skyscrapers around the city. At night, we went to Kobuki-cho, which is considered Tokyo's red light district! Lots of neon lights here again, roads were closed for the night and the place was filled with hostess bars, regular bars, pachinko places, etc. and lots of people hanging around. Not a place to bring a date but fun to walk around..

• Had A drink and dessert plate at Park Hyatt Hotel - the infamous bar featured in Lost in Translation! Extremely nice hotel and the New York Bar was located on the 52nd floor with great surrounding views of Tokyo/Shinjuku area. Very expensive and they also charge a cover charge of $20CDN per person if you stay after 8. We left at 7:30.

• Night at Roppongi Hills - spent a couple nights at Roppongi Hills, which is a huge modern shopping/commercial complex and probably the place where we saw the most foreigners hang out. Checked out Heartland (filled with foreigners in business attire and Japanese women a la meat market style..) and Roppongi Bar.

• Akihabara - this place is an anime and manga and electronics-enthusiast dream place to be. As soon as we walked out of Akihabara station, we were greeted with huge billboards of anime characters and also girls in maid outfits handing out flyers from everything from maid cafes (see below) to other stores. Walking around the streets here was another sensory overload and you could find everything anime-related, tons of duty-free stores, huge arcades and any kind of electronic you could want. If i could understand Japanese, i probably would have bought a DVD set of any anime series but unfortunately, 99% of the DVDs sold here have no english subtitles...

• Maid Cafe - haha! another truly Japanese experience. Went to find a maid cafe and found Royal Milk off one of the side streets in Akihabara. The novelty here is that you are served by girls in maid outfits and you ring a small little bell on your table to call them over. Of course, there was the language barrier again but it was pretty much point and order. No pics allowed in here. Guy beside us was wearing homemade ear muffs that resembled a cat or rabbit and was drawing cat people in his book.....weird but cool and nobody bothered to notice...

• Ueno Park - walked through the park to try and visit the Tokyo National Museum but got there with one hour before close and it was 1500 YEN each. Looked nice from the outside..

Today is our second last day and plan to spend it in Harajuku area and meet an old friend....stay tuned!