Shurijo Castle, a Buffet, and Our Neighbor's Pottery Shop

I've said this before, but we really have the nicest neighbors! The lady (I feel so bad that I can't ever remember her name) has been wanting to show us her pottery store and some other things around Naha City (the aquarium is in Nago city which is north of us, and Naha is south of us). They drove us down to see Shurijo Castle first. What a neat place to go. The kids loved getting to stamp their pamphlet at every stop (and then receiving stickers at the end). Most of the areas inside were no picture taking zones, but I got a lot of good ones outside.

Next, our neighbor and her son took us out to eat at a yummy buffet. This is the first Japanese buffet we've been too, and it did not dissapoint. I especially loved the curry, salad, noodles, fresh fruit, and coffee bar. There was also a huge variety of meat dishes, rice rolls, and desserts. Yum, yum! We really haven't explored too many restaurants because I'm always nervous I'm not going to like the food. I've grown into a picky eater which is so not like me! I can ALWAYS find something I like at any restaurant when I can read the menu, but when the menu is in a different language and you don't always know what you're ordering, it's a whole different ball game. We're going to keep our eyes peeled for a buffet near us. Here's the lone picture I took at the restaurant:

Then we got to see their store which is what I was most excited about. It's located on a street in Naha with a bunch of other pottery stores. I believe the area is called Pottery Village or something of that nature. They make all of these items in their studio which is right next to us.

 They gave us coffee and we felt right at home.

 A view down the road:

 Noah was starting to grab at things, so our lovely neighbor took them for a walk while Steve and I looked around the store.

 Then, she took us down the street to see some old Okinawa houses. It was a pretty, quaint little neighborhood.

 Cherry Blossom Tree...just like in D.C. They even had a Cherry Blossom Festival.

So what did we get?? Some pretty little pitcher and mug set:

And a Tea set:

These will go great in the china cabinet (we don't own a china cabinet...it was here when we moved in).