November 16, 2013

Lisa and Corey are going home today. Kyle and I went to the imperial pavilion grounds and saw who we think was Bill Clinton. We don’t know anyone else who looks like that and has THAT many body guards. I have such a bad cold. Decided to go get my nails done in the mall. Had a slight anxiety attack because while I was getting my nails done I thought ‘omg what if he gets lost? What if I can’t find him?’ After my nails were done Kyle was there waiting for me (thank god) … With chicken noodle soup, granola bars, clif bars, oatmeal, peanut butter and bread… Have I mentioned I’m having troubles eating? I almost cried. It’s not that the food is gross it’s just I cannot understand or read what I am eating and it freaks me right out. We both have lost at least 10 pounds each.

We ended up in Narita for the night. We took the night to repack our bags and get organized for the next few days left. As we were packing up everything started it shake. The bed, the desk, the window started the squeak and all I remember is Kyle looking at me and asking ‘what is happening??’ – EARTHQUAKE!

I have never gotten dressed so fast in my life and we booked it out of the room and I remember seeing a sign in the elevator saying ‘in case of earthquake do not use elevator’. So we ran down 13 flights of stairs into the main hotel lobby. Like a scene of a movie the typical hotel lobby music was playing and we look around and everyone is totally chill. We looked at each other and were like are we the only ones who felt that?? We went outside and everyone is walking around like normal and I can still feel the earthquake under my feet!! I went to the front desk and asked what was going on and he looked at me and didn’t understand my English so I had to say “we are staying in room 1317 and everything started shaking!” *with a lot of hand movements* and he laughed and responded with “oh! Yes, earthquake.” Haha and that was that.

November 15, 2013

Attempted to go to the fish market… Wouldn’t even call it attempted. Alarm didn’t go off and the guys were hung over so we went shopping through Asakasa instead… In the rain. We went to the sky tower that claims to be the tallest tower in the world but we think Dubai just built a taller one. We went back to the hotel for a quick nap then went shopping through Shaboya where we saw the busiest crosswalk in Japan. Insane.

November 14, 2013

Tokyo bound! We met up with Lisa and Corey – It was so refreshing to communicate with people in English lol. We went to Odaiba which is a man made island in Tokyo bay. We saw the massive gundam and shopped. We finished the evening in Roppongi and ate at the kill bill restaurant Gonpachi. Lisa and I went to bed and the guys went out drinking.

November 13, 2013

Today we took the train from Nagoya to Odawara. We stayed at the Hilton that was located on a massive mountain/cliff/hill that looked over the ocean. Had a bath in the natural hot spring, went for dinner, got a little home sick… Got over it – then went bowling! Oh and I Saw Mount Fuji. I seriously misjudged the size.

November 11, 2013

We woke up, had our Starbucks and started shopping. Loving Kyoto. Went to all the of side street alley shops. A few days ago when we were on our bike ride we stopped by a knife shop – learned later on that he is the oldest knife maker in Kyoto. Kyle bought 2 knives and chatted with the knife maker. He offered to carve Kyle’s name in Japanese into his knife he bought. It was extremely memorable! We went and saw a massive castle then went to the bamboo forest which was really cool but overrated. It is FREEZING HERE.

November 10, 2013

Woke up and went on a bird walk… Didn’t see any birds. The night before we saw about 7 hawks circling that area. Went to Kyoto station and had a nervous breakdown it is insane there. Went to Nara to see the largest wooden structure in the world that houses a MASSIVE Buddha. There are hundreds of deer everywhere. I fed the mangy ones because they don’t look like Bambi and probably get no love. Nara was slower paced and nice.

November 8, 2013

Today we took the Shinkansen (high speed train – 600km) from Hiroshima to Kyoto. I really enjoy the train! We checked into the mitsui garden then walked around Kyoto. Kyle set the security alarms off at the imperial pavilion grounds. He thought he would photograph the side of the pavilion by putting his foot over the moat… Hilarious!! Well I thought it was anyway. When it got dark we reached a castle that had a massive forest entrance that we had to walk down… Unfortunately, we encountered a fierce RACOON DOG! Kyle was so scared it was the funniest thing. He kicked rocks at it to make it go away but it just turned around at us and hissed… So we ran like hell. Because of that stupid racoon we had to take the long way back because Kyle wouldn’t walk back through the forest. There was a guy running through the grounds that looked like David Beckham – I asked Kyle if it was safe in the area and he said “well they wouldn’t let David run around if it wasn’t!” Really great day. Love Kyoto.

November 12, 2013

Sad to leave Kyoto. Heading to Nagoya to shop and spend the day at the Toyota museum.

November 9, 2013

Today we rented bikes to tour around Kyoto. We biked to the golden pavilion and it was so beautiful. So surreal! We had tea and little red bean snacks with gold flakes on them… Kyle has to finish mine. Then we biked to 2 other zen gardens that were so beautiful… One was so beautiful that we weren’t able to take photos because people keep selling their photos. At the beginning of the trip Kyle started calling me turtle for some reason… When we were at the zen garden there was a turtle and crane garden that represented 2 different things; turtle being the set back and disappointment in life – the crane being the uplifting and excitement in life … The 2 balance each other. Sounds about right haha. (He was calling me turtle before we learned this by the way LOL)

We rode through the cutest, tiniest streets I have ever seen. I can’t believe that people live here.

After our bike riding we checked into the Westin kyoto hotel that had the most amazing view of the city. We went to a piano bar, had some drinks and listened to a Japanese lady sing songs like Moon River.

November 7, 2013

Took a train and ferry to Miyajima to see the floating torii/itsukushima shrine. When Kyle told me where we were going I was not really interested in seeing a torii gate that appears to be floating but it has been my favorite day so far. The whole island has tame deer that you can pet and feed! We walked around the island and it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. We walked through all of the different temples and took so many pictures. After Miyajima, we took a train back to Hiroshima, jumped on another train and went to the Hiroshima peace memorial museum. It’s surreal standing in a city that was bombed. This is a building called the A-bomb dome – this is what was left of it after the bombing. I am surprised that there is even this much left of it. A couple of things I thought were the craziest artifacts in the museum were:
– a watch that was stopped at 8:15am (the time of the bomb)
– a bicycle. Apparently the bike belonged to a three year old that loved the bike. The dad found him dead with his bike then buried him in his yard WITH the bike and then dug him up years and years later to move him to a family plot. Then donated the bike to the museum
– a white wall with black rain

Didn’t take pictures in the museum, felt too odd.

We finished the day by walking around Hiroshima – had tea and scotch and played monopoly by the river.