Pearls & Prose

The Romancecar isn’t full of romance. It’s an Odakyu limited express train with reserved seating only. It links Shinjuku with the popular holiday spots of Hakone, Enoshima and Kamakura, areas loved by tourists from Japan and overseas. We stayed in Hakone because we wanted to see Mt. Fuji, but missed out because of rain. My son talked to someone who had been there for days, but no luck of seeing it.

I think something got lost in translation here.

I have no idea what this means.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

I thought this architecture was so elegant.

Love that golden light.

A miscellaneous shop.

We found an arcade but didn’t buy anything.

I thought this house was interesting.

Love the socks. Note the split so you can wear geta or zori (sandals).

This guy was playing an organ grinder, but no monkey in sight. I’m glad he was under an umbrella.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

This looks to be some kind of general store.

The were a LOT of chopstick stores.

Several shops had these drapes? Banners? That date kind of blew my mind. Our country is so young.

I grew to like these drapes a lot.

I’m pretty sure this is a candy and nut shop.

An adorable young couple allowed me to take a photo of their cute “couple shoes.” That’s kind of a thing in Korea and Japan.

Of course we had to have ramen in Japan. I had the Kyoto ramen. It was great.

The white camellias were so beautiful.

Yup, that’s Gucci.

I though this little blue car was so cute. It’s actually a Suzuki Alto Lapin. Lapin is French for “rabbit.”

Part III next week.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

I LOVED Kyoto. It was such a mix of modern and old-world charm.

This flower shop, Mille Fleur, was across the street from our hotel.

And speaking of our hotel, it was so cool!

This is the lobby.

This is the restaurant/bar area. I wish I’d taken pics of my room because it was very cool too.

A typical alley in Kyoto. Although we encountered rain, it wasn’t a problem for us. At least it wasn’t a downpour.

I loved the bikes in Kyoto. So cute.

Another beautiful alley.

I had never seen architecture like this before.

I thought this beauty salon was so lovely.

Not sure what this building is, but it’s beautiful.

I love the lighting here.

We saw goldfish a lot. Or are they Koi?

Pansies.

There were so many pretty shops in Kyoto.

I love the way they displayed this restaurant. They even have an English menu. We didn’t have a problem ordering food in Japan. Sometimes we had to point to a photo, but not very often.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

I didn’t know that Seoul had two airports. I flew into Incheon from the U.S., but we flew to Japan from Gimpo.

What I ate:

Yes, that is a hot dog and yes, that is asparagus. The bun was really sweet and I think that was Parmesan cheese on top. It was actually…good! It helped that I was really hungry.

I love trying new foods.

{carole}

This guy was amazing. He was doing like ten sandwiches at a time. And they were delicious.

Anyone heard of Starbucks Reserve Roastery? I hadn’t heard of it, but it’s definitely a cut above a “regular” Starbucks. I loved the mural at this one.

The fare was a cut above too.

It all looked so yummy. They have locations in Seattle, of course, and Chicago and New York City.

We passed by this cute restaurant on the way to one of the palaces.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate!

{carole}