Keikon no Anniversary. (wedding anniversary)

Our first wedding anniversary came and went already, I can't believe it! But what a lovely time it was. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, and cards. I want to post pictures from my anniversary surprise, but can't really show you much, because it was so much of a surprise that I didn't even have my camera with me; Now that's really saying something!


It all began on Friday after Ben got off from work. He thought it would be a fine idea for us to go up the the little brewery at the big hotel on the hill in the city that we visited with Forrest a couple of weeks back. We had our car with us on this particular night because we had visited the idea of staying over in the city if we decided that we wouldn't be safe to drive back to Kiire (there is a zero tolerance rule for alcohol while driving, so one sip is enough.) This made me a bit sad that I'd be going up to the brewery, because only one of us would be able to sample the local beer. I went with the idea for the time being.


When we parked our car at the top of the hill, Ben got our little "emergency only" overnight bags out of the car and handed me mine. I couldn't understand why he would make me hold my bag, it was getting dark out, and *WHY are you handing me all this STUFF!?* You may have guessed it already, but it took me a couple seconds more still, to realize that this nite, Ben booked us a room at the hotel! I was completely shocked! What a great surprise!


So Ben checked in, and we spent our anniversary in the lap of luxury. Arriving on our floor, which was the 9th,(only one below the 10th, and top flr, which is a restaurant floor,) I saw that we had the most marvelous view of Kinko Bay and Sakurajima, our volcanoe. And it was the most mild, and clear fall night! perfect. There were flowers and a note left for us, quite a welcome... take a peek below. (What an undertaking Ben must have gone through trying to communicate all the details of our anniversary in Japanese when booking our stay!!)

First, headed off to the hotel bakery (that's right, it has it's own bakery!) and got some treats, a chocolate croissant or two, a cream filled pastry... mmm mmm. A sweet start to the evening. Then we went to a little cafe overlooking entire city, over which the huge patio and fountain area was competely decked out in the prettiest Christmas lights, including lit up reindeer, and red and green lights IN the fountain! What a lovely spectacle, before Thanksgiving even! Next, we decided we should try eating an actual meal, since they had many restaurants to choose from... there had to be something vegetarian on the premises. The hotel staff recommended the "Biking" restaurant. Translation: "Viking" restaurant. Viking=Buffet. Great name, isn't it? It conjures a perfect image of someone eating ALL they possibly can, doesn't it? Happily, we picked through the meat/fish dishes, and had some noodles, pasta, salad, and lots of little cake bites. It did the trick.

After dinner, we went to the hotel's onsen, which was highlight of our stay for me. The onsen is for hotel guests only, which made it feel so exclusive. We wore our little hotel robes and rode the elevator down from our floor to find the most amazing onsen with a million Yen view. It looked just like the postcard below, but all lit up, since it was night. Incredible.

The flowers, back in our place, and the special note:

a little bow ring.

After the onsen, Ben surprised me with this little pink gold ring that I adore. What a lucky girl I am!