First trip to Yokohama

Well after a couple of frustrating days of trying to check-in while everyone is on holiday routine, we decided to take advantage of a sunny day and venture a little further out along the train line.  We left Yokosuka and traveled to Yokohama, the second largest city in all of Japan located just south of Tokyo.  Once again we were led by some phenomenal tour guides, Michele and Carl Netzler!

Yokohama is far too big a city to take in one afternoon, but we started with some of the basics; Landmark Tower and a small amusement park in the center of the city for the kids.

This picture Amie took shows the park starting right at the base of Landmark Tower and extending to the right with a huge ferris wheel.  The ferris wheel takes an hour to ride one full rotation!  Next time we'll dump the kids on the wheel and go across the street to the Yokohama Bath House (On-sen).

The kids had a fun time at the park.  They paid way too much to find out that a haunted house doesn't necessarily mean it is scary.  Amie and Lila went into an Adventure Maze!  It was so amazing that once they found out that Amie didn't speak or read Japanese they assigned a tour guide of sorts to make sure they eventually made their way out!

The boys and I decided to ride something called the Super Planet or Planet Whirl, something like that.  It started off a simple fast merry go-round, then tilted near vertical.  At one point someone shouted "Oh Kelly Clarkson" so it was definitely a fun ride.  Here's a shot from Amie's phone while she and Lila rode the traditional Merry Go-Round.

The bottom of Landmark tower is actually a large mall including L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, Godiva to name a few.  I am beginning to think that the primary commodity in Japan is food.  Every where you look is another restaurant, food counter, or shop.  We ate at Garlic Jo's, no Vampire attacks in our house that night, and then stopped by an ice cream shop and another great French Bakery.  The French Bakery's are awesome mostly because they have excellent food without the French attitude!

Finished the day off with a simple train ride home, where the boys and I got to witness some drunk Japanese guys try to stay on their feet on the train.  The annoying thing was trying to avoid getting our feet stepped on as they tried to stay upright.