This year-end we got 10 days off work!
It was great! My friends came to visit me from Kobe and Okayama. They stayed a
few days and we checked out Sakuragicho, we rode the Cosmo Clock ferris wheel,
and had melt-in-your-mouth malasadas from Leonard’s. YUMMY!!!!
We took it easy for the most part
because we were all so drained from working. Late nights, late mornings, and just hanging out was
great. My friend got pretty sick
so we stayed in for NYE and went to Shibuya on NY day. I have NEVER seen that city so empty
before! It was unbelievable. The busiest intersection in the world
with tumbleweeds rolling through it. Who’d have thought? The bonus? We were able to go shopping
without being mobbed by people. And the Disney Store was having a crazy sale so
we went nuts :) Great
New Year’s!
After that we made our way to Kobe and
on to Kyoto. It was magnificent. We didn’t see a lot but we did see some
amazing places. Kinkakuji was
gorgeous. It’s a golden temple surrounded by a lake and lush trees. It was a sight to see for sure. I’m so happy I was able experience that
place. It was so picturesque and somewhere I’d like to visit again. Next we went to Sanjusangendo – the
temple with 1001 figures (almost life size). It was huge.
The grounds were plain, save for a small pond area surrounded by plants
and greenery. The statues,
however, were wonderful. Just row
upon row of these figures that all looked unique in their armour and adornments
in a looong hall. In front of every 10 across or so there were other statues
representing the gods and those worshipped for various reasons. It was interesting to see that all the
Buddhist gods derived from Hinduism.
Maybe I should have known that but I’m okay learning about it in such a
phenomenal place.
After that, we went on to Gion – home
of the Geisha and Maiko. The area was packed and there were lots of shops and
beautiful things to buy that were out of my price range…next time. Anyway, in Gion, we saw an actual
geisha walking down the street. It
so cool, it was like a celebrity sighting. No pics were taken as that would probably be rude but we got
pics later at a show! We went to Gion Corner
for a show that showcases many of the traditional Japanese entertainments. We saw flower arranging, women playing
the koto, a pretty funny comedy show with 3 men. Even with the language barrier
the simple plot was easy to understand.
The show ended with a beautiful maiko dance.
BUT the beginning of the show began
with a traditional tea ceremony. I had only been to a little high school one
where the tea maker messed up and it was a little embarrassing. This time, however, I had been saying
to my friends that I wanted to do a tea ceremony but we never found one. THEN the announcer at the beginning
asked for 2 volunteers and I was chosen from the audience!!!! AMAZING!!! I was
so excited! It was so intricate and beyond my understanding of following each
move of the napkin, spoon, bowl, etc.
It was a great experience and I was left feeling ecstatic. Then we got to take pics with the maiko
after the show, which was fantastic!
Kyoto also has a ginormous triain
station. It’s an architectural
work of art and such a spectacular place to see. I won’t do it justice by explaining it so I suggest you look
up “Kyoto Train Station” and see what you get. You won’t be disappointed. The stairs on one side light up with different images that
can be seen from the other side of the station. We got some great photos. We also went for waffles in the station
mall. The BEST Belgian waffles
I’ve had. Mine had crème caramel,
whipped cream, and caramel sauce.
The menu also had some cute misspells. “Calamel” – caramel, “plane” – plain, and “Lemon Squash.” We spent a long time trying to figure
what that meant. Finally, my
friend was like, “SQUEEZED!!!!” It
was for a fresh lemon squeezed drink! HAHAHA!!! Too funny :)
We headed back to Kobe and checked out
Osaka. Nothing big happened there because
Osaka is just another Tokyo. There
was the big Osaka tower but we didn’t get there. I did find a delicious omiage in Kobe, however. We walked into the shop and didn’t see
anything we liked. Just as we were
leaving the clerk brought a little tray with tea and a sample of this sweet for
us. So we were, "Well we can't leave now..." and grudgingly tried the sweet. I'm glad I did! It looked really strange. It was whole red bean encased in a
sugar mold. The texture throws you right off but then you’re like “Yeah. Yeah.
This is good!” You bite into it
and you get this sweet, almost crystallized sugar texture but a little jelly at
the same time. Then you get the
starchiness of the bean. Sounds
strange but it’s wicked!
Anyway, that was the end of my
trip. I took the shinkansen back
home and back to work I went.
Overall, it was a great week and I was so happy I got to see my friends
and experience so many new things.
Hmm…what’s next?
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