Typhoon Songda was almost a complete bust for us. It was downgraded to a tropical storm and though we had one night with lots of rain and wind, it was no big deal. It did, however, cover the entire weekend in a heavy, gray blanket. Rain drizzled down most of the time and kept us second-guessing ourselves anytime we decided to venture outside, which was unfortunate since Blake had a four-day weekend.

We went to dinner and a comedy club on Thursday. We explored the area near our new house (we move in Friday) and practiced parking. I am confident I can parallel park the car in the spot, but it's now a question of where should we park Blake's motorcycle so it's completely out of danger. We visited a motorcycle shop to sign Blake up to borrow a bike next month (Blake can't ride his until it gets registered, which means he has to get his license first). To get his motorcycle license in Japan he has to take the Experienced Rider Course the military gives for free. If he wants to be able to carry passengers (aka: me), then he has to bring a passenger with him (aka: me) to the course.

Monday we went to Odawara Castle. It's a replica of a castle and keep that five generations of a family used as their headquarters during their reign over the Kanto Plain. The first few floors are exhibits and the one thing I can say is this: they sure had a lot of ways to slice someone open. Swords, knifes, throwing stars, blowguns with metal projectiles, lances, javelins, seriously, a one stop shop for gaping wounds. Also, great fashion sense. Some of the suits of armor had fake mustaches on the helmets. Legit.

It's beautiful, truly. Especially wonderful is the view from the top. Some of us, though, had to get on their tip toes to see over the security fence. I mean, really, I know I'm short, but I'm not going to jump off the top of Odawara Castle over it. I just want to see Sagami Bay without feeling like an Alcatraz felon!

When we left the base, it was a sunny day with only a little cloud cover. By the time we left the castle, thunderstorms were bearing down on us again. But, we didn't leave before we got to the best part of the trip. The castle was great, the grounds were beautiful, the cage of Japanese Macaques was adorable, but they couldn't hold a candle to the real highlight. The green tea ice cream. It's so good. I'd only had it at a few Japanese restaurants in the states, and only hard ice cream. It's kind of hard to find. In Japan, it's everywhere. Heaven.

Blake and I had our first soft serve, twisty cone of green tea ice cream. It was so good. I talked about that ice cream for the rest of the day and I'm sure Blake was sorry he'd bought it for me.