And Now A New Life Begins ...

Tony and Bettina are so very happy to announce the birth of their Maximilian Anthony. "Max" was born at 9:03 AM on 12/21/08 at the Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, CA. Max is 20 inches tall and weighs 7.8 lbs. Bettina had a c-section but is recovering well. She should be out of the hospital in a few days. Max looks forward to meeting all of you !!









"Maxi" taking a sponge bath

"OBAMA IS BEAUTIFUL WORLD!/エニワン・ブラザース・バンド"

This is a historic time for the United States. This is the first time a person of color, Barak Obama, was elected President of the United States. This signals real change. In celebration of change Tony headed out to Obama, Japan with some of his work colleagues. It took 2.5 hours to drive to Obama from Nagoya. Obama is located in the Fukui prefecture along the Sea of Japan. The views were breathtaking. Tony could even see Russia from the port of Obama. (See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRB2wFhXIPs)

Fishing at the Obama Port.

La ..., la, la, la, la, la ... Obama (port). Isn't that Russia in the background?

On the city streets of Obama. Tony and Bettina's future son will have a friend in Japan.

"Fist bump" for hope and change.

This is the same store that was shown in the Obama music clip.

Ready for Maxi

And so... many of you may, or may not, know this but Bettina and Tony are expecting a baby boy, Maximilian, at the end of December. Tony flew to California this past weekend to spend time with Bettina and "Maxi." Tony was excited to see his friends and family who showed up for Bettina's baby shower. (Thanks to all who helped organize the baby shower: Salomon, Paula, Cristina, Brian, and Karen). Now Tony is back in Japan putting the finishing touches on the family nest that he has been preparing over the past few months. Tony will head back to California at the end of November to help Bettina deliver Maxi. Once the baby is strong enough to fly then Bettina and Maxi will re-join Tony back in Japan. Needless to say, Tony and Bettina are very excited and a little nervous about brining new life into this world.


The weather in Japan has finally cooled off. The hot and humid sweaty summer was almost unbearable. Winter will soon approach and the leaves will turn and change colors in no time, bringing new hopes and challenges. Below are some photos of the new nest.

Welcome to Tony and Bettina's home. The front entrance is shown here. The home is fairly large (~1100 sq ft, 3Br, 2Ba Town Home) by Japanese standards. The home has wood panel floors and is also brand new and is located about 4 minutes away from a major subway line.

The kitchen appliances are typically smaller than those of the U.S. The combo microwave and oven has many cooking options/settings but it is challenging to use because the display is in Japanese. Notice the small oven for cooking fish on the left side of the photo.

Here is a shot of Maxi's bed which is located in the corner of his future room down the hall from Bettina and Tony. This room will serve as an office until Maxi is old enough to sleep on his own.

Tony and Bettina's home has many electronic controls. There is a control on the 2nd floor for controlling tap and bath water temperature. With the push of a button the bathtub on the 1st floor will fill up with hot water. There is an electronic control for the heated floors. Tony's favorite control is the toilet control shown above. The toilet contains a bidet and spray and blow dryer. The lid automatically lifts when he hovers over the toilet. The toilet automatically flushes and closes the lid when Tony is finished taking care of his business. This is a nice feature which will prevent him from getting in trouble with Bettina for leaving the toilet seat up.

This is a shot from the attached two car garage located on the lower level. In the foreground is the loaner Harrier (Lexus) SUV that Tony was driving until his brand new Vanguard SUV (background) was delivered by car agent Uno-san. The SUV is not very eco-friendly but it does burn less gas than the Harrier and it does have plenty of room for Maxi's toys...

Bettina's visit to Japan

After Tony spent two months alone in Japan, Bettina finally came to visit for one week to help Tony find a home. They spent three days house hunting and finally decided to rent a little brand new townhouse in Yagoto. Pictures will follow after move-in in September.

While Tony was at work Bettina visited Nagoya's main attraction the Nagoya's castle.

The weather was very tiring: extremely humid and hot which made sightseeing less comfortable.

However Bettina still boarded the famous bullet train Shinkansen for a speedy short 35 minute ride to Japan's most visited tourist attraction: Kyoto.

Can you find Bettina in the train station crowd?

Kyoto has so many temples, shrines and beautiful gardens that Bettina's and Tony's Kyoto pictures were not duplicate but complimentary. See Kyoto's Golden Pavillon, Kiyomizudera Temple, Heian Shrine and Gion's winding streets:

Finally the weekend arrived and Tony had time for sightseeing with Bettina. They decided to take the train to Toba, a little harbor city where the famous Mikimoto Pearl Island is located. Tony and Bettina watched the traditional pearl diver women demonstrate their skills, helped a little and visited the very informative Pearl Museum. Tony offered Bettina even a beautiful pearl tiara.

After visiting Japan's largest temple area, the shrine of Ise, Tony and Bettina were up for a real local treat, a summer festival with 9000 fireworks displays at the river banks of Shima Nationalpark. The fireworks were going on for 2 hours while food vendors were preparing delicious snacks at hundred of food stalls along both sides of the river banks.

While Tony will be up for many more of these summer festivals while in Japan, Bettina had to return home to work.

And now begins work - In Japan

Konnichiwa, O-genki desu ka?

Well, it's been quite some time since Tony and Bettina have updated their blog. They have a new country to add to their travel blog - Japan. They are in the process of relocating to Nagoya, Japan. Tony has accepted a 2 year term position with his company. Tony has an exciting job, providing support to a Japanese partner which is helping to make a next generation commercial airplane. And so the work begins but the travel does not stop.

Tony rented a nice summer residence in Balboa Island, CA for his lovely wife, Bettina, until he settles into Japan. In the meantime Tony is roughing it up at the Hilton Nagoya. Bettina will arrive this week to help with the house hunting. So what is (Nagoya) Japan like you ask? Well Nagoya is certainly different than Newport Beach. or Balboa Island. Nagoya is an industrial city. It is not quite as sunny Newport Beach. The trains are really packed but are never late. It is very quiet on the trains, hardly anyone speaks. If they do, it is typically not in a very loud voice. It is against the rules to talk on your cell phone while riding the subway. Tony takes three trains to get to work in about 45 minutes. His work place is a massive factory which is located right next to the water. It has rained on and off this past month. The extremely hot and humid weather is fast approaching. Prices are not quite as high as expected - if you are an efficient shopper. Nagoya is known for having good, tasty food at cheap prices. The other night Tony went to a Yakitori restaurant which served every piece of chicken that you can imagine (liver, heart, neck, leg, etc). Tony liked the chicken sushi but the sake was even tastier. There are plenty of nice restaurants and shops located at the main train station which is one stop away from the Hilton. The city streets are very clean and very safe.

Here is a view of the city from the hotel room:

Sake and Sushi
Grey rain in Nagoya
-- Warm cozy restaurant

Tony has been working terribly long hours with his Japanese partners. He did get a chance to escape to Kyoto with a few colleagues for the day. Kyoto is huge and in one day you can just barely begin to scratch the surface. Kyoto is the home of the Geisha. The trip from Nagoya to Kyoto aboard the Shinkansen (bullet train) lasted about approx. 30 minutes. Train speeds can be as high as 300 km/hr (186 mph).

Here is a photo from the Kyoto Tower located just across from the train station. The really nice places are located on the outskirts of the city off in the distance.

Tony took a walking tour and saw many shrines and temples. The picture below was taken at the Chion-in Buddhist temple. This temple boasts the biggest wooden gate in all of Japan. It also boasts the largest bell in Japan (shown below), weighing in at 74 tons. It takes about 17 monks to pull the giant log back to ring the bell.

Tony made many young friends while he was in Nagoya.

Children are open
Smiling and laughing a lot
-- Never forget those fun days?

*********************************************************************

Tony also visited Tokyo recently. Luckily, Tony and Bettina's good friend Nehal was next door, in Korea, on company business and flew into Tokyo for a mini-vacation. Tony traveled to Tokyo from Nagoya on the bullet train, once again, and joined Nehal for a site seeing tour. It cost approximately $100 and took 2 hours to get to Tokyo from Nagoya. Unlike Nehal, Tony was not too excited about Tokyo. It was just another big city with lots of shops and malls. Tony stayed in the area call Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a great place to stay if you plan to climb Mount Fuji. The main bus which travels to Fuji is located about 3 minutes from the Shinjuku subway station. Tony and Nehal tried to purchase a bus ride to Fuji but all seats were sold out. That was probably a good thing since Tony did not have all is his hiking gear in order. However, Nehal was determined and she purchased a ticket the following day. She was brave enough to "bag" the Fuji peak all by herself.

Here are some photos of Nikko which is home to many World Heritage sites. It is located about 2 hours north of Tokyo by train. Nikko is big. So big that that it would be best to spend a really long weekend there. It is a sacred place that was established in the 8th century by Shodo Shonin. It was a training center for Buddhist monks. That was until it was taken over by Warlord Shogunate Tokugagwa Iyesawa.

At Nikko, Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples scattered in the hilly woodlands peacefully coexist. It is one of Japan's major attractions.

Our good friend Nehal at the Shin-Kyo Bridge

Sayonara for now !!

Argentina and Uruguay

Senor Tango, Glaciers and Torres in Patagonia and lots of Mate with bombilla, jaja Argentina!

After our 3 nights in the very simple Residencial Luna in Puerto Iguazu (10$ per person per night but loud and dusty), we enjoyed our two nights in another great Hilton in Buenos Aires, located directly in the modern harbour district of Puerto Madero with a fresh breeze from Rio de la Plata and a great view of the city. While the concierge recommended an Argentinian steak dinner at San Telmo's "La Brigada Parilla" followed by a Tango show at La Ventana, our taxi driver convinced us to go all the way to Viyetes to see an authenic big musical style Tango show at Senor Tango which was really spectacular.



The next day we visited colorful La Boca, founded by Italian immigrants where we met Guillermo Alio, a renowned Tango dancer and famous artist (known for his collages of tango dancers) who taught in Los Angeles in the late 90's. He gave us a short lesson on the spot. We would have loved to take a real lesson with him if only time would have allowed. Don't miss Caminito-La Boca and Tango Multiple Gallery during your visit to Buenos Aires.




San Telmo's Plaza Dorrego is the place to see Portenos (nick name for people from Buenos Aires) dance Tango live on a Sunday afternoon right in front of Cafe Mundo Tango (best is view from their first floor balcony). Sunday is also the day for the arts fair at Plaza Francia in Recoleta, right next to the cementary where you can pay homage at the famous Argentinian mausoleums (like Evita and Julio Borges).

The oldest coffee house in Argentina is the elegant Cafe Tortoni where all important Portenos used to socialize. It is located just down the Ave de Mayo from the Casa Rosada, serves exotic salads and features daily tango shows in a very intimate atmosphere. As you can see, the performers where even asking Bettina on stage. Unfortunately she was not prepared or trained to dance in her Havaianas.

This experience convinced Tony and Bettina not to leave Buenos Aires without taking at least one tango lesson at Confiteria Ideal (near Corrientes). Confiteria Ideal offers a group tango lesson from 09:15 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. each day followed by a Milonga with a little show and live music.


We could have stayed in Buenos Aires much longer but our travel plans called for Patagonia. We flew via Argentinia's little Switzerland (Bariloche) to El Calafate to visit the still growing Perito Moreno glacier in the Las Glaciares National Park. El Calafate has the nearest airport to the National Park which is still 80 km away from this really overpriced town. We can recommend the Kosten Aike hotel in El Calafate from our own experience (after staying two nights in the simple and loud Hostel America del Sur) but we heard good reviews about Los Alamoas and the only hotel located in the National park called Los Notros. We did not have time to experience it ourselves but heard also that the Big Ice Trekking by Hielo y Aventuras and Cerro Feria's horse back tours are worth the time and money. We enjoyed the Safari Nautico along Perito Moreno's wall and the views from the balconies (pasarelas).


Due to overbooked tours to El Chalten to see the climber's dream Fitz Roy or to participate at Minitrekking (we were there at peak season) we decided to add another country to our trip and took a strenious day tour to the Chilenian side of Patagonia to visit Chile's famous Torres Del paine National Park with its chocolate dipped croissant shaped Cuernos de Paine and the landmark Torres Del Paine.


Our curiousity kept us going and we continued our trip around the Southern Hemisphere with a visit to Uruguay. We flew directly with Pluna from Buenos Aires to the upscale summer resort Punta Del Este (summer retreat for the high society from Buenos Aires and Montevideo) which resembles Monte Carlo and the French Cote Azur and Italian Riviera. Thanks to Muaro (Padi dive instructor, fluent in English and born in Punta del Este) we were able to complete our Open Water dive certificate in the rather cold and windy waters at the Peninsula of Punta Del Este where the Rio de la Plata meets the Atlantic. We were lucky enough to stay at the only Casino and Spa resort (Conrad) where we enjoyed great views of Playas Mansa and Brava. After two days we had to move on to explore the wilder coast line Northeast of Punte Del Este. We visited the alternative beach towns of La Paloma (surf beaches) and La Pedrera as well as Punta Del Diabolo which we found overcrowded during peak season. We finally found a little paradise in Uruguay when visting Cabo Polonio which is not even mentioned by Lonely Planet. In order to access the National Nature Monument of Cabo Polonio you have to hire a 6x6 Jeep van that takes you on a 20 minute ride through pine trees and sand dunes until you finally see the lighthouse and a peninsula with little fisher houses at the end of a wide beach. There are only two guest houses in Cabo Polonia and we can recommend La Perla. Bring more time with you and rent a little cabin and enjoy serenity, tranquility, wild nature, laid back hippie life with live music, candle light and fresh fish. Take a boat ride to the large see lion colonies and a horse back ride over the dunes and just forget the hectic of our daily lives for a little while!


Cabo Polonio - hidden paradies in the dunes!

Now we are in Sao Paulo and almost on our flight back to the US. Once we will have landed in Los Angeles we will have completed 40 flights and visited 12 countries in 12 weeks.

We are looking forward to sharing more of our pictures with all of you soon!

Hasta la vista familia y amigos! Life is a beach.