A Bucket List Wish --- A Vacation Much Overdue
- Thread starter Steve Williams
- Start date
and so there you have it.....one man's bucket list vacation to an absolutely beautiful country, Japan, at the height of cherry blossom time
I hope I haven't bored you
I hope I haven't bored you
@Steve Williams - that looks like a super holiday and thanks for sharing in so much detail. Is one on my bucket list also, likely for when we are no longer constrained by school holiday schedules.
Lovely pics of the blossom Steve and thanks for posting.
It reminded me of our trip a few years back at approximately the same time with blossom everywhere. Folk in their numbers spread out under the trees in the local park enjoying a picnic and cherry blossom goodies to buy at every turn.
Tokyo metro wasn’t as difficult to navigate as they say and we visited Temples, Royal Palace Akihabara, Takeshita Dori, Shinjuku, stayed in Ueno.
Bullet train to Kyoto, loved the old town, visited Yayoi Kusama exhibition, watched real Geisha performing (most of the Kimono clad are Chinese tourists). Fushimi Inari shrine was beautiful. 45 min train to Nara, my favourite, to see the Todaiji temple, it’s huge! And the bowing Nara deer, so cute.
Osaka was a bit brash but sashimi from tank to plate was mind blowing and the Takoyaki, yum, yum.
Trip to Onsen in the mountains and Kobe (boring).
Want to go again plus my niece is now living there.
Cheers
Blue58
ps, you must see Petra.
off to see Pompeii/Herculaneum in a few weeks.
It reminded me of our trip a few years back at approximately the same time with blossom everywhere. Folk in their numbers spread out under the trees in the local park enjoying a picnic and cherry blossom goodies to buy at every turn.
Tokyo metro wasn’t as difficult to navigate as they say and we visited Temples, Royal Palace Akihabara, Takeshita Dori, Shinjuku, stayed in Ueno.
Bullet train to Kyoto, loved the old town, visited Yayoi Kusama exhibition, watched real Geisha performing (most of the Kimono clad are Chinese tourists). Fushimi Inari shrine was beautiful. 45 min train to Nara, my favourite, to see the Todaiji temple, it’s huge! And the bowing Nara deer, so cute.
Osaka was a bit brash but sashimi from tank to plate was mind blowing and the Takoyaki, yum, yum.
Trip to Onsen in the mountains and Kobe (boring).
Want to go again plus my niece is now living there.
Cheers
Blue58
ps, you must see Petra.
off to see Pompeii/Herculaneum in a few weeks.
I've been to Petra about 14 years ago. Mind blowing experience. I've also been to Pompei
we really enjoy Osaka but what a busy and bustling city They separate the very busy North Osaka from the calmer (if possible south Osaka)
We really enjoyed the food there . Mu wife and I had a 9 course sushi and sashimi lunch with drinks for 1600 Ye which is just over $10USD. Part of our tour was eating dinner at the restaurant in Osaka with the best Takayuki. It was indeed yum.
As for the visit to the mountains, we spent a day there as we visited Mount Fuji. You can see from my earlier pictures the amount of snow still in the hills. It gave us a completely different look at the countryside of of Japan.
we were one 2 bullet trains, the first to Kyoto and the second from Hiroshima to Osaka. Negotiating those train stations alone is to something I would advise anyone to do unless you understand the language.....BTW I would strongly recommend on a trio like this to download the Google Translate app as it was invaluable during our time there
I also hae a few new short videos we were lucky to get, the first being of 3 Geishas, a true Geisha, a musician and the Maiko (the young apprentice). WE also spent an hour learning from a "tea master" the art of making Matcha which I have had before and , even though I do enjoy teas from around the world, Matcha to me tastes like dirt and another cal "our" from cChina which smells like the inside of a barn .
The Tea ceremony was also captured by me in 2 short videos. It is a solemn and strict ritual. Here is something that happened to me when we got our own chance to make Matcha.....I had a Woody Allen moment that brought the tea house down in complete laughter. I was sitting at the very front by the Tea master......I am sure most have seen the movie Annie Hall where Woody was in a room of people and they were passing around a bowl of cocaine and Woody sneezes and blows the entire stash into the air....well guess what...the smell of the matcha irritated my nose and caused me to sneeze blow mud entire stash toward the tea master. Even though everyone was laughing I thought. the tea master was going to yield one of the samurai swords hanging on the wall across my neck
We also had two other fun experiences, the first being to learn the art of gold leaf and to apply it to something given to uss. That part of Japan was famous for their gold leaf. The other very fun experience was to make our own wood paper and to decorate the paper before it dried . That part of Japan was noted for its wood paper production
I also forgot to mention that flying out f LAX to Tokyo was a 12 hour flight and a 16 hour time difference so we left at 0100 on March 2 and arrived in Tokyo at 0430 on April 3. Coming home with the trash winds at our back the flight was just under 10 hours. We left Tokyo at 1245 PM April 15 and arrived at LAX at 0545 the same day.....very strange going backward in time
we really enjoy Osaka but what a busy and bustling city They separate the very busy North Osaka from the calmer (if possible south Osaka)
We really enjoyed the food there . Mu wife and I had a 9 course sushi and sashimi lunch with drinks for 1600 Ye which is just over $10USD. Part of our tour was eating dinner at the restaurant in Osaka with the best Takayuki. It was indeed yum.
As for the visit to the mountains, we spent a day there as we visited Mount Fuji. You can see from my earlier pictures the amount of snow still in the hills. It gave us a completely different look at the countryside of of Japan.
we were one 2 bullet trains, the first to Kyoto and the second from Hiroshima to Osaka. Negotiating those train stations alone is to something I would advise anyone to do unless you understand the language.....BTW I would strongly recommend on a trio like this to download the Google Translate app as it was invaluable during our time there
I also hae a few new short videos we were lucky to get, the first being of 3 Geishas, a true Geisha, a musician and the Maiko (the young apprentice). WE also spent an hour learning from a "tea master" the art of making Matcha which I have had before and , even though I do enjoy teas from around the world, Matcha to me tastes like dirt and another cal "our" from cChina which smells like the inside of a barn .
The Tea ceremony was also captured by me in 2 short videos. It is a solemn and strict ritual. Here is something that happened to me when we got our own chance to make Matcha.....I had a Woody Allen moment that brought the tea house down in complete laughter. I was sitting at the very front by the Tea master......I am sure most have seen the movie Annie Hall where Woody was in a room of people and they were passing around a bowl of cocaine and Woody sneezes and blows the entire stash into the air....well guess what...the smell of the matcha irritated my nose and caused me to sneeze blow mud entire stash toward the tea master. Even though everyone was laughing I thought. the tea master was going to yield one of the samurai swords hanging on the wall across my neck
We also had two other fun experiences, the first being to learn the art of gold leaf and to apply it to something given to uss. That part of Japan was famous for their gold leaf. The other very fun experience was to make our own wood paper and to decorate the paper before it dried . That part of Japan was noted for its wood paper production
I also forgot to mention that flying out f LAX to Tokyo was a 12 hour flight and a 16 hour time difference so we left at 0100 on March 2 and arrived in Tokyo at 0430 on April 3. Coming home with the trash winds at our back the flight was just under 10 hours. We left Tokyo at 1245 PM April 15 and arrived at LAX at 0545 the same day.....very strange going backward in time
ice cream topped with or covered with edible gold was popular everywhere
outside a restaurant where Geishas perform. We were told this board showed the times they would perform. Also they make at least $2000 USD per night and that has nothing to do with prostitution which they aren't
This was our best Japanese meal. A lunch that cost 46000 yen. After lunch one of the waitresses sang for us
Thank you for sharing the fantastic photos of your epic vacation with us Steve!
Thanks Mark. FWIW I took well over 1000 photos as every time I turned my head there was a new Kodak moment
The dexterity of this woman is amazing Plus she was kneeling the entire time
A glimpse of Geisha girls in Kyoto
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