It all started a little earlier than expected. We had planned on getting up at 8am but someone had other plans for us. At 7:09 am the sound of the fire alarm rips through our ears and we are suddenly awake from our peaceful sleep. In a calm yet annoyed manner we proceed down 8 flights of stairs and head to the side of our building where only a hand full of other people are standing and sitting. Apparently the rest of the people living in the building didn't find the 142Db alarm reason to leave. Or they are just really sound sleepers. Whitnie and I, thinking that we lost an hour of sleep, decide to sleep an extra hour, which means we would wake up around 9am instead of 8am. Well, six hours later (at 1pm) Whitnie and I are finally up enjoying a good bowl of cereal (Coco Puffs and Cinnamon Life, respectively). During our bowl we decide that we want to leave for Tokyo by 2:30pm. oh, let me say that the whole reason we are going to Tokyo is because Whitnie is craving Mexican food (which is very hard to come by in Japan) and she knows of a great place in Tokyo. Anyway, so we start our quest.
When leaving our building we find ourselves no longer in July of 2005 but in July of 1242 A.D. The soccer field that was once across the street from us was now a medieval battle field with knights fighting knights. After a few photos, we continued on with our journey to Tokyo.
On our way to Yokosuka Chuo, the local train station, we saw a man holding down another man. Being the curious bystanders that we were, we stopped and watched for a few minutes. This one Japanese man had another Japanese man by the shirt collar yanking him around and pushing him on the ground. Whit and I came up with the idea that the guy on the ground had tried to steal something from the other one and he, being the weaker of the two, was not able to get away. After a few minutes the guy was able to put his shoe back on, which must have been lost in the scuffle, and the Police showed up to sort things out.
Now we have finally made it to the train station and we are well on our way to Tokyo. Tokyo is a 45 minute train ride from Yokosuka. A uneventful train ride at first. But then we get to Shinigawa station and we feel a jolt and look out the window to see hundreds of people jump back almost simultaneously. The train stops and after a minute pulls forward another ten feet and lets everyone off. So Whitnie and I, knowing that there has been an earthquake, but not being at our final destination, decide to get on another train and move on. Well, the Japanese didn't think we needed to eat Mexican food because the trains didn't start running again for five hours.
So, we went exploring in Shinigawa. We ended up in the middle of some kind of Japanese street festival where we saw both a band dressed in sock-hop outfits singing fifties music and a little tiny dog dressed in Kimono. After a few hours of walking around waiting for the trains to start running again, our hunger got the better of us. We stopped at a hotel and got directions to the nearest American restaurant, which happened to be a TGI Friday's right across the street from the train station. When we walked the 45 minutes back to the train station and up to the TGI Friday's, another restaurant sign caught our eyes: Outback Steakhouse! The end of our hunger was near, and although we never got our Mexican, our Outback meal more than sufficed. After our tummy's were full, we left the restaurant and found that the trains were finally working again. Well, we made it home safely (not comfortably, though--the trains were PACKED from the five hour delay earlier), and now having picked up all the things that fell over in our home during the earthquake earlier, we're going to bed. Who could ask for a more event-filled day?
