To make things a bit clearer I will break down our adventure city by city. Enjoy.
Aioi
At 9:30am Monday morning I was knocking on Ali's hotel room door. I thought I had the wrong door until I heard "Amanda?" from behind it. She opened the door and I was so happy to see her. I must say I think we have a really unique relationship. I walked in and it felt like we had just been chillin' out and kickin' it a few days ago. I took off my shoes and headed straight to the bed, as did she because there were 30 minutes left until check-out. Granted I do live like 2 minutes away from the hotel, but whatever.
I welcomed Ali to my humble abode at about 10:10am, we took it easy for a while before heading out, on bikes of course, to take in some of my little city. Our first stop was to the Board of Ed where Alison met my supervisor and his staff. It was lunch time when we arrived so some people were taking cat naps at their desks. In walked Rokudai-sensei from his lunch to greet us. He and his staff had heard so much about this friend coming to visit and they were delighted to finally meet her. Next stop was Futaba Junior High school. I don't have much to say except that my students are pure jokes. The girls wanted a picture with Ali so of course I obliged. Next stops were Uniqlo in Himeji for a bit of shopping and then the grocery store and then back to the apartment to ready ourselves for our week of taking over the country.
Tokyo(Shinjuku)
The next morning we took the shinkansen to Shinjuku station in Tokyo. After about half an hour of walking in circles IN the station trying to find the right exit to get to the hotel, we gave up and took a cab. Of course the hotel was about 2.2 seconds away! We didn't waste any time, checked in, took our bags to the room and headed out again to wander Shinjuku and start shopping. Alison got 2 pairs of prescription glasses for drop dead prices...they are pretty cheap here.
The day ended with a really good dinner at El Torito Mexican restaurant where I had my first encounter with tableside guacamole! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Clubbing got thrown out the window because we were both beat.
Yokohama/Ebisu/Harajuku
What can I say? I LOVE this place, especially China town. We first went to the landmark tower, but of course we had to stop and shop first. I thought the landmark tower was a good stop, one because it's just a nice sight to see and two, because there is a Coldstone's creamery on the first floor. *smile*
We proceeded to Yokohama China town (the biggest in Japan), took in some temples and got some good pictures. I kept hearing about this man with fishbowl earrings and finally saw him....and yes my camera was ready.
We had lunch at Aalawi Jamaican restaurant in Ebisu. The food is good and the jerk chicken is actually spicy...well spicy for Japan that is, but still tasty. At this point we were winding down again, but we made a quick stop to the crazy streets of Harajuku. I knew we were both tired because we didn't really attempt to buy anything. The two of us were pretty much on the same page and rather than clubbing we chilled in the hotel and went to bed!
Kyoto
The next morning saw us on the Shinkansen yet again, this time heading to Kyoto. I must say I was extremely excited for this part of our take over because I had yet to visit and I heard so many good things. Kyoto has over 2000 Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and if I remember correctly, it is also one of the oldest cities in Japan.
We stayed at a traditional Japanese guest house. The staff were so helpful and the location is ideal. After checking in, we headed straight out to Kinkaku-ji (Golden) temple. This place is absolutely gorgeous. The gardens are expertly manicured and the scenery is breathtaking. On our way out we stopped to buy some lovely yukata-type robes before heading back to the guesthouse. After getting ample directions and information from our host, we made a mad dash to a kimono shop where I bought my first kimono and had a little obi tying lesson. It was great! It was so fun that we didn't realize the time...we basically closed down the store and stayed an hour later than planned. We walked the streets of Gion and Pontocho and I swear I felt as though I was on set of an old time Japanese movie.
Friday morning (May 1st) met us still in Kyoto and wanting to see more. Initially we were going to visit a shrine then head to Osaka and Kobe for the day. Needless to say, and executive decision was made and we spent the day in Kyoto and went to Ginkaku-ji (Silver) temple and Fushimi Inari. Unfortunately, the Silver temple was completely under construction so I couldn't get any good pictures of it. Fushimi Inari shrine was so much better than I had expected. I saw pictures of it and marked it as a must see. The first "head shrine" is at the bottom of a mountain. From there you can work your way up the mountain along trails of orange torii. Ever since I saw pictures of this place I had envisioned a picture that I wanted to take there. Ali and I went to work in executing my vision and it turned out thousands of times better than I could ever have imagined. To date, it is one of my favourite pictures of myself!
At about 5pm we made our way back to the guesthouse to get our bags and head back home to Aioi. Our decision to cut out Osaka and Kobe couldn't have been better. We were so tired at this point, we just wanted to relax and that's exactly what we did.
Aioi & Himeji
We got back to my city Friday night and spent it chit chatting, and relaxing. The following day we went back out to Himeji castle and did the walking tour. I didn't realize that the castle would be so busy! It was Golden Week so I swear everyone was out. Part of the tour that usually takes about 5-10 minutes took us 45!! It was pure madness. I'll have to keep Golden Week traffic in mind next time. After the castle we headed back to my place to pack Ali's bags and enjoy what little she had left of her stay. Sunday morning we went back to Himeji bus station so Ali could catch her airport bus, but not before she had me run to the store to pick up two more of the plates she loved from the 100 yen shop. I had about 15 minutes and spent 7 of them trying to remember what section of the store we found the plates in. I felt like I was on amazing race or something the way I was running because there was NO WAY I was gonna let Ali leave without giving her a proper goodbye. I ran back with about two minutes left to see her giving some guy instructions on how to say bye to me if she had to leave..uhh yea right! I got my hug, and kept a brave face until the bus pulled off. I swear if it wasn't for that guy who was there seeing his friend off I would have broken down. It wasn't until I walked back into the train station that some tears actually left my eyes. Just typing this brings happy tears!
Overall, if you couldn't tell, the week was AMAZING! I enjoyed EVERY LAST MINUTE of it and can't wait for us to do it again soon, whether it be Japan or somewhere else in the world. Thanks for coming Ali, I really appreciate it!
PICTURES PART 1
PICTIRES PART 2
