Posts Tagged ‘ travel ’

Japan Part 7: The Past is a Foreign Country

Kyoto is Japan’s historic capital, a UNESCO heritage site which contains temples and businesses which are hundreds upon hundreds of years old. It was thus with some surprise that I discovered that almost every trace that I had lived here only 3 years earlier had already disappeared[ READ MORE ]

Japan Part 6: Baseball

So much more fun than going to a Jays game. The fans are crazy, there’s continuous singing and music and lots and lots of balloons. Oh, and they’re totally cool with outside food (and even give you cups for your bottled drinks)[ READ MORE ]

Japan Part 5: Aoi Matsuri

There are three big festivals (or matsuri) in Kyoto: Gion, Jidai and Aoi. I never saw the Aoi matsuri when I lived here because after seeing the Gion and Jidai ones I learned that it was all the same thing over and over again and so not worth the crowds. However as we were here [ READ MORE ]

Japan Part 4: Otagi Nembutsu-ji

This is a temple in Kyoto that has lots of stone statues of the buddha’s disciples. As you can see the statues are a bit out of the ordinary. Way back when I’d seen an ad for the place on a train but never got around to actually seeing it. This was my chance. After [ READ MORE ]

Japan Part 3: Tokyo

I already knew that sumo was amazing, but seeing it live took it to the next level. Truly the sport of kings. The sushi at Tsukiji market is very good, but it would help to have some reference point besides 100 yen kaiten-sushi. Capsule hotels are great and probably the best option for someone travelling [ READ MORE ]

Japan Part 2: Shin and Akane’s Wedding

Shin and Akane’s wedding was the official reason for coming to Japan and the reason we had to leave Winnipeg so quickly. It was easily the best wedding I’ve been to – the food was amazing, the program wasn’t too long and it was dominated by their friends so it was fairly entertaining to boot[ READ MORE ]

Japan Part 1: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I’m back-dating stuff because it’s taken me so long to get in front of a computer and don’t want to lose chronology. Because my mom was going to be in town for graduation we figured it would make the most sense if her flight was at the same time as ours so that we could [ READ MORE ]

Honeymoon Special – Part 7: Pamplona

  • July 13th, 2006
  • Posted in General

Previously: Madrid Because we were already in Spain while it was going on, I decided that we had to go see the Running of the Bulls. Long story short, Pamplona smelled like a washroom in a dodgy club and Tomoko and I really wanted a bull to injure someone. With the show over by 10am, [ READ MORE ]

Honeymoon Special – Part 6: Madrid

  • July 12th, 2006
  • Posted in General

While I’m sure that there are lots of neat things to do there, Madrid was pretty much just a stopover between Granada and Pamplona. This was made worse by having lost our guidebook. But there was one thing that we did want to do, visit the Prado museum (it’s name in Spanish is Museo del [ READ MORE ]

Honeymoon Special – Part 5: Granada

  • July 11th, 2006
  • Posted in General

By the time we got to Granada from Córdoba we were fairly bored of seeing the sights. We had our tickets for the Alhambra for the following afternoon but for our first day we went shoe shopping. From before we left Tomoko had been looking for shoes to wear on the trip. I kept telling [ READ MORE ]

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