Thursday, December 20, 2007

Yokohama Bay

In the past few years, I have delighted in running here. Created posts in my mind, many a time. Finally, the time has come. Thus far, I have stayed at the Inter-Continental, with it's magnificent views. Now in the lesser Monterrey, I have to go out to catch the magnificence - is that why I finally write up the run? Or is it the wonderful bar experience I just came away from. The Three Martini bar. My new friend, Yamashita-san, told me it is a twist on 'Dry'. Please figure that out and write up a comment!

The Perfect Martini. That eternal quest continues. Yamashita-san moves it a step forward, with his stirred Martinis. He has 1600 bottles in his little bar. And he knows them, as a lover would know the ever changing scent in his beloved. He is a scotch fanatic, but it does not stop there. He mixes his drinks with the fervor of the true lover. Tastes each cocktail with a long spoon. That then gets put back in to a jar at hand. The little bar filled with his presence, cigarette smoke spilling from his lips, talking scotch to a customer, focused and passionate. Bespectacled, tie askew.

Yokohama Bay. So very un-Japanese. Large, spacious. The 3 Queen Towers. A hulking moon. The sun has set as I start off past lovers kissing in Yamashita Park. The long bridge with the views. That beautiful sail boat, the schooner, all lit up, in the distance. Tourist boats in the Bay, showing more life than a teenager set for Prom.

Soon, I am runnning past the Red Brick Building. Only the Japanese would make something of a red brick building. Cell phones clicking, as I run by the crowds, a hundred suimasens, get to the huge, hulking sail boat. Then the world's largest Ferris Wheel. Colorful, bright, luninous. A beacon. It really must be a metaphor for something. I love that dumb Ferris Wheel. It just goes on. As life should.

I run by the Queen Towers. Memories - mainly of restaurants! And then Pacifico. The views from the hotel come to mind, magnifico! I am in the park nearby, a little bridge, a view of the bay, it is balmy, pleasant, so comforting. Waters lapping by my running feet. Lovers on a bench. It feels wide, open, California beckons, across the water, joy in the air.

Wood slatters on a bridge. I run past a mosaic of wood, brick, stone. Suddenly confused - I think I am running into a wall. Work it out.

Back at Yamashita Park. I pause a Japanese Pause.