Living the retirement dream

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The Stalkers Find us and A Day With Will and Ruby

Our stalkers, aka Dick and Andrew have consistently found us at every major stay over the past six plus years with the exception of Melbourne Australia and San Miguel de Allende Mexico. Dick has always wanted to visit Japan but he is coming here with a lot of trepidation as it seems to be way out of his comfort zone. Our host in Tokyo arranged a van to pick them up at the airport and they arrived on the evening of 23 March. We found a sweet little Thai restaurant just down the street from home after their arrival and they settled in comfortably. The day after their arrival we had plans to meet Canadian friends of Michiko who we have only met through texts on WhatsApp.

The day after the stalkers landed we took the train to Fujisawa to meet Ruby and son Will.
They sent us these photos to recognize them at the station. How cool and fun do these people look. We are all in for meeting them.
Here is how this relationship evolved. It all started with our Beacon Hill neighbor and dear friend Peggy Scott who during our first stay in London introduced us to her friends Sigi and Paul who in turn introduced us to Sigi’s BAA flight attendant colleague/friend Michiko, a Japanese woman living in Japan who then introduced us to Ruby and Will who are Canadians that she met when they were passengers on her flight from London to Tokyo. It was the only time in Michiko’s history as a flight attendant that she gave a passenger her contact info which speaks volumes of how cool they are. Ruby and Will have a home in Hiratsuka Japan, Garmisch Germany and a home base in Calgary Canada. Like us and Mishiko, Ruby and Will live a life of travel.
It was love at first site.
Stuck on opposite sides of the train tracks.
Enoshima, near where Ruby and Will own an apartment is a stunning Island only one hour away from Tokyo. It is one of the most popular day-trip destinations for both Tokyo locals and tourists.
A raptor looking for prey along the beach bridge as we crossed.
We were so amazed at this area which had more of a Palm Beach or LA feel. Crossing the bridge takes about 5 minutes and takes you to Enoshima Benzaiten Nakamise Street which is the approach to the Enoshima Shrine.
Just beyond the shopping street rises a large vermilion tori gate. We forwent the escalator (of course) and opted to do the 10-15 minute stair climb that took us almost to the top.
We saw many Japanese women dressed in beautiful Kimonos.
This look out shows the yacht harbor where the sailing activities of the 1964 and 2020 Olympics took place. The 2020 event sadly had no spectators due to Covid.
We had lunch in Enoshima before heading to the next site that Ruby and Will planned for us.
Trees are starting to gently drop their blossom. It is like a soft petal rain coming down on you.
This is the great Amida Buddha of Kamakura Daibutsui.
It is a cast bronze statue that stands on the grounds of Kotokuin Temple.
With a height of 11.4 meters, it has long been the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan. The statue was cast in 1252 and originally inside a large temple hall however the temple buildings were destroyed multiple times by typhoons and tsunami in the 14 and 15th centuries. So since the late 15th century the Buddha has been standing in the open air and not enshrined by any building, a testament to its massive size and durable material.
We were able to go inside the Buddha which was cool.
You can still see a faint glimmer of gold on the right temple as the Buddha used to be covered in gold.
Ruby and Will.
Sakura
We love the contrast in this photo of Mc Donald’s Golden Arches and the Red Tori Gate in Kamakura.
So many unusual tree blossoms.
It started to rain so Will ran into a store and bought us all umbrellas.
Our next stop was Kamakura-Yukinoshita.
Tsurugaoka-hachimangu Shrine.
We had dinner together after visiting the shrine and made plans to get together again later in the week. It was such a fun time. Thank you Ruby and Will and thank you Michiko for uniting us.

Living our retirement dream

One response to “The Stalkers Find us and A Day With Will and Ruby”

  1. Sandra Rowe Avatar
    Sandra Rowe

    We are happy that you folks lead such a magical life!

    Reply

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